FLYING SHARK

NEW ZEALAND - An airline pilot was stunned to see a flying shark out his cockpit window!

The pilot of a an Air New Zealand flight, was on his descent to Christchurch International Airport on Boxing Day when he radioed ground control with an unlikely sighting – a shark flying at several thousand feet.

The fish out of water was identified great white – which was estimated to be 30 feet in weight and weighted approximately 5,000 pounds. The pilot saw the shark five times as it approached the airport. “It seemed to be circling us, waiting to attack or something,” said Captain Michael Stubben of Air New Zealand Flight #79.

A spokeswoman for Christchurch air traffic control, Monica Maron, said a pilot had reported the shark and its location about nine miles from the airport at 2pm on December 26.

“We advised subsequent traffic of its location, and the other pilots adjusted their routes.”

It was not yet known whether the sighting would be formally logged as an air-safety incident, she said.

The shark’s altitude and how close it came to the plane were unclear, Davis said.

The Civil Aviation Authority had also received several other reports from small single engine Cessna airplanes in the area.

“We couldn’t believe what we were seeing, the shark was up about 7,000 feet in the air – and it seemed to be flying. We almost lost control of o ur plane, we were so shocked to see it,” said Todd Gimley of Christchurch Flying School.

New Zealand Air Line Pilots’ Association president Greg Kendall said the flying shark does not pose an immediate risk to planes, unless of course it got into an aircraft engine.

“Flying sharks could get sucked into the engines of passenger jets and that could do major damage to a plane and cause it to crash. We are advising pilots on the proper protocol if they see a flying shark,” said Gimley.

“The engine probably wouldn’t stop, but it would do a great deal of damage,” he said.

A naval ship of the coast of New Zealand also spotted the flying shark.

There have been no other sightings of flying sharks outside of New Zealand. Authorities and marine biologists are looking into the situation. “This could be some rare mutation. It is quite alarming,” said Cindy Loudon, a top Marine Biologist at the University of Sydney in Australia.