Cobra Reared Its Head, Pilot Held
Johannesburg: A extremely venomous Cape cobra reared its head in the cockpit mid-flight, prompting the South African pilot Rudolf Erasmus to make a safe emergency landing. After five years of flight, Erasmus kept his composure as the cobra slid back under his seat as soon as he saw it.
On Monday morning, he was transporting four people in a tiny plane from Worcester to Nelspruit. When asked about his predicament, Erasmus told Time Live.
“The Worcester airfield personnel informed us they had seen a Cape cobra lying underneath the wing on Sunday afternoon when we performed the preflight [procedure] on Monday morning. Even though they made an effort to capture it, it managed to hide inside the engine cowlings.
The group opened the cowlings expecting to find the snake inside, but they did not find it, so they thought it had slithered off, the man said.
“I typically fly with a water bottle, which I position against the side wall of the aero plane between my leg and hip. I initially believed my bottle was leaking when I felt a cold feeling where my love handles are. Erasmus said, “I noticed the cobra putting its head back underneath my seat as I turned to my left and glanced down.
