South African pilot makes emergency landing after discovering cobra under seat
A South African pilot had to make an emergency landing after discovering an unwelcomed passenger: a highly venomous Cape cobra.
According to South African online newspaper TimesLive, the pilot, Rudolf Erasmus, was on his way to Nelspruit from Worcester on Monday with a few stops in between. On his flight, he was traveling with four passengers.
The pilot stated that when he was in the preflight procedure, some of the Worcester Airfield people said that they had seen a Cape cobra lying underneath the wing on Sunday afternoon.
When the group opened the cowlings, however, the snake was not there, so they assumed it had slithered away.
According to online encyclopedia Britannica Kids, a Cape cobra is a large snake in southern Africa and is "one of the deadliest snakes in the region." The venom is said to attack the nervous system and can cause deadly results if the victim is not given immediate medical attention.
Erasmus said that they were on their second leg of the flight, having earlier stopped for snacks, and were headed to Wonderboom when he felt something strange on his body.
"I usually travel with a water bottle that I lodge between my leg and my hip towards the side wall of the aircraft. When I felt this cold sensation where my love handles are, I thought my bottle was dripping," he said.
"As I turned to my left and looked down, I saw the cobra putting its head back underneath my seat. I had a moment of stunned silence, not sure if I should tell the passengers because I didn't want to cause a panic. But obviously, they needed to know at some point what was going on," he added.
Luckily, they were not far from Welkom, so Erasmus declared an emergency with Johannesburg.
"I told them I had an unwelcomed passenger. As soon as the aircraft came to a stop, we started getting out. The three passengers in the back came out first and then the one sitting in front with me," the pilot said.
Talking about the flight experience, he shared, "This was definitely a first and not something you get trained to handle, to be honest".
The pilot further stated that he contacted a few people to get some snake handlers, but by the time they arrived, it had disappeared inside the aircraft again.
He said they had engineers strip the plane trying to find the snake, to no avail. Erasmus said they are hoping it found its way out.