Pilot lands plane with snake in the cockpit
Source: Agencies |
April 6, 2012, Friday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
AN Australian pilot said he was forced to make a harrowing landing reminiscent of a Hollywood thriller after a snake popped out from behind his dashboard and slithered across his leg during a solo cargo flight.
Braden Blennerhassett - unsure whether the snake was venomous - said yesterday that his heart raced as he tried to keep his hands still while maneuvering the plane back to the northern city of Darwin. The snake popped its head out from behind the instrument panel several times, Blennerhassett said, and then the ordeal worsened when the animal crawled across his leg during the approach to the airport.
"I've seen it on a movie once, but never in an airplane," he told Australian Broadcasting Corp, referring to the 2006 flick "Snakes on a Plane," in which deadly snakes are deliberately released in a jet as part of a murder plot.
The 26-year-old Air Frontier pilot was alone in a twin-engine Beechcraft Baron G58 and had just left Darwin airport on a cargo run to a remote Outback Aboriginal settlement when he saw the snake on Tuesday.
Air Frontier director Geoff Hunt described Blennerhassett as a "cool character" who radioed air traffic control: "I'm going to have to return to Darwin. I've got a snake on board the plane."
Once the plane had landed, a firefighter spotted the snake but were not immediately able to catch it, Air Frontier official Michael Ellen said. A trap baited with a mouse failed to catch the snake by yesterday, and the plane remained grounded.
Braden Blennerhassett - unsure whether the snake was venomous - said yesterday that his heart raced as he tried to keep his hands still while maneuvering the plane back to the northern city of Darwin. The snake popped its head out from behind the instrument panel several times, Blennerhassett said, and then the ordeal worsened when the animal crawled across his leg during the approach to the airport.
"I've seen it on a movie once, but never in an airplane," he told Australian Broadcasting Corp, referring to the 2006 flick "Snakes on a Plane," in which deadly snakes are deliberately released in a jet as part of a murder plot.
The 26-year-old Air Frontier pilot was alone in a twin-engine Beechcraft Baron G58 and had just left Darwin airport on a cargo run to a remote Outback Aboriginal settlement when he saw the snake on Tuesday.
Air Frontier director Geoff Hunt described Blennerhassett as a "cool character" who radioed air traffic control: "I'm going to have to return to Darwin. I've got a snake on board the plane."
Once the plane had landed, a firefighter spotted the snake but were not immediately able to catch it, Air Frontier official Michael Ellen said. A trap baited with a mouse failed to catch the snake by yesterday, and the plane remained grounded.
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