In the past, we have noted stories about emus, dogs, rabbits, wild pigs and even turtles running across runways plus onboard incidents involving a bat, scorpions and even crocodiles (one croc may have even crashed an aircraft in the Congo) and then there was the movie Snakes on a Plane but on Tuesday, there was a real life snake in the cockpit incident in Australia.
The incident involved a 26 year old Air Frontier pilot who was alone in a twin-engine Beechcraft Baron G58 that had just left Darwin airport on a cargo run to a remote Outback Aboriginal settlement when a snake popped out from behind the cockpit’s dashboard. The pilot promptly radioed to Darwin saying he would have to return because of the snake – which also began slithering down his leg on while he was landing.
After landing, a firefighter spotted the snake but no-one was able to catch it and a trap baited with a mouse had also failed to catch it as of Thursday. Hence, the aircraft has remained grounded.
According to wildlife officials, the snake was probably a non-venomous golden tree snake which can grow up to 1.5 meters (5 feet). Then again, maybe it wasn’t (plus its Australia) and that’s why the aircraft is still grounded.
According to an Air Frontier official, this is the first snake on the plane he has heard of in Australia but it could have been worst as he had heard of an incident involving an escaped juvenile crocodile crawling under a pilot’s rudder pedal….
Snakes on a plane are absolute commonplace this part of the world. I'm just spent significant time at the Boeing Flight Training Centre on Brisbane Airport. There's not a single day where you won't see at least a few poisonous Brown snakes around the car park (requiring at least a little vigilance when returning to your vehicle after a long hot day). On at least a few occasions, the simulators were grounded because of a venomous snake "somewhere" inside. The stories I could tell…