South African Pilot Conducts Emergency Landing with Venomous Cobra Beneath His Seat

A man holds a cobra he sells for medicine at a Chinese majority business complex in the In
Photo: BAY ISMOYO/AFP via Getty Images
Michael Foster

A South African pilot kept his cool and successfully landed a plane after finding a venomous snake under his seat.

Rudolf Erasmus, a pilot from South Africa, was flying a private plane from the Western Cape of South Africa to Nelspruit when he felt a “little cold sensation” beneath his shirt, which turned out to be a cape Cobra, NPR reported.

Rudolf Erasmus via NPR

“As I turned to my left and looked down, I could see the head of the snake receding back underneath my seat,” he told the outlet. “At which point there was a moment of stunned silence, to be brutally honest.”

WION reported Erasmus weighed telling the flight’s four passengers, wanting to avoid provoking a panic, but he also feared the snake crawling back toward the passengers might have the same effect, so ultimately opted to tell alert them to the situation.

Snake catcher, Johan de Klerk, is seen here looking for the highly venomous Cape cobra in the Beechcraft that had to make an emergency landing at the Welkom airport on Monday. (supplied via News 24)

“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’,” he recalled.

A toxicology document from the University of California San Diego indicated the snake’s neurotoxic venom “can be rapidly fatal,” sometimes killing a bite victim in as little as 30 minutes.

Erasmus remained cool and concluded the best course of action was to attempt an emergency landing in Welkom, where the flight arrived safely, per NPR.

He told the outlet that during the ordeal, he thought of the film 2006 film Snakes on a Plane.

South African Civil Aviation Commissioner Poppy Khosa attributed the plane’s safe landing to Erasmus’s skill as a pilot, News 24 reported.

“Oh my goodness this could have been disastrous. Great airmanship indeed which saved all lives on board. Such an amazing story and great handling of the situation by the pilot. Bravo to great airmanship,” he told the outlet.

NPR quoted Erasmus as saying throughout the terrifying flight, he was most concerned for the safety of his passengers.

“I was more afraid of what the snake might do. Luckily it didn’t strike anyone, otherwise that would have changed or complicated the whole situation,” he said.

The outlet noted the snake has not been located.

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