South African pilot, Rudolph Erasmus, has revealed how on a flight from Bloemfontein to Pretoria at 11,000 ft in the air, noticed a Cape cobra slithering under his seat.
He told BBC, “To be truly honest, it’s as if my brain did not register what was going on.
“It was a moment of […] awe,” he added, saying he initially thought the cold feeling on his back was his water bottle.
“I felt this cool sensation, sort of, crawling up my shirt,” he said, thinking he may not have closed the bottle properly and water might have been dripping down his shirt.
“As I turned to the left and looked down I saw the cobra […] receding its head back underneath the seat.”
The bite of this venomous snake is lethal and can kill someone in just 30 minutes, so Erasmus made the decision to make an emergency landing in the city of Welkom.
The private plane, a Beechcraft Baron 58, was carrying four passengers, as well as the snake to make the fifth passenger.
Erasmus stated that he carefully informed his passengers about the presence of the snake, not wanting to cause panic, but wanting them to be aware of the situation.
He said, “I did inform the passengers: ‘Listen the snake is inside the aircraft, it’s underneath my seat, so let’s try and get down to the ground as soon as we can.'”
Meanwhile, the reaction of the passengers was absolute silence, as they all froze for a moment or two.
“You could hear a needle drop and I think everyone froze for a moment or two,” he added.
Erasmus was praised by South African civil aviation commissioner, Poppy Khosa, for his “great airmanship indeed which saved all lives on board.”
While the presence of the snake was shocking, it was not a total surprise. Two people who worked at the Worcester flying club where the plane took off had earlier spotted a reptile taking refuge under the aircraft.
They had tried to catch it but without success. Erasmus had also attempted to find the snake before boarding the aircraft but was unable to locate it.
The snake is still missing, as engineers who stripped the plane have not been able to find it.
Erasmus, although hailed as a hero, is modest about his actions, saying that he does not feel special and that it was also his passengers who remained calm.
He admitted that pilots are trained for many scenarios, but certainly not for dealing with snakes in the cockpit, but he managed to remain calm and made the right decision, ultimately saving the lives of those on board.
