A South African pilot of a tiny aircraft and four passengers faced one of the least enviable scenarios, short of a crash, when they discovered a highly-lethal cobra in their midst at cruising altitude. Fortunately, no harm was brought to the flight thanks to the level-headed coolness of the experienced pilot.
If being calm and collected under pressure is a symptom of white supremacy and toxic masculinity, sign me up.
Pilot Rudolf Erasmus recounted the terrifying ordeal once safely alit. He said he was flying his Beechcraft Baron 58, a dual-propellor plane designed to carry up to six passengers, when he suddenly felt the deadly Cape cobra, a creature whose bite can unleash death within 30 minutes in humans, slither across his back.
Feel free to shudder at the thought.
Though the exact size of this particular cobra was not revealed, adults typically reach five to seven feet in length and consume small prey and birds. Of note is that the animals are usually active during the day, not night, like most of their reptilian brethren.
“Unlike many of the cobras, they look for prey during the day,” said Britannica Kids. “They are shy snakes, and will not attack people unless they feel threatened. But they have been known to enter houses in pursuit of prey, and sometimes they lie in paths where people step on them.”
Calmly, Erasmus explained to his passengers, who must have noticed the creature at this point, that they would be making an emergency landing. “There was a moment of stunned silence,” he said.
“It was as if my brain didn’t know what was going on,” Erasmus said of the initial encounter. Indeed, who would suspect a slithering snake would find itself aboard a small plane.
What happened next must have been the longest fifteen minutes of the pilot’s and passengers’ lives, as it took nearly that long to reach the nearest airport and safely land.
”I kept looking down to see where it was. It was happy under the seat,” Erasmus recounted as he piloted the aircraft to the runway. “I don’t have a big fear of snakes, but I normally don’t go near them.”
Once touched down, the plane was met with a team of first responders and a snake handler. Amazingly, the group of people was safely deplaned without incidence, although in the midst of commotion, the snake evaded capture. It was unclear if it slithered away or remained on the plane.
Despite affirmative reassurance, therefore, that the snake no longer posed a threat, and rather than walk as I might have, the pilot and passengers returned to the aircraft and resumed their flight. They did at least take additional safety measures.
Erasmus said he wore an extra set of thick pants, wrapped his seat in a blanket, and took what one report called “anti-snake” items on board. We can only hope that was meant to say a flamethrower.
“I hope it finds somewhere to go,” Erasmus concluded. “Just not my aircraft,” he said with an understatement sorely lacking in today’s modern climate.
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