Pilot lands plane after spotting cape cobra midair

NELSPRUIT – The pilot Rudolf Erasmus told TshisaLIVE that he felt a cold sensation on his body before he realised it was a Cape cobra and made an emergency landing. Erasmus was on his way to Nelspruit in a Beechraft Baron with four passengers when he saw the highly venomous Cape cobra on his plane.

“I usually travel with a water bottle that I lodge between my leg and my hip towards the side wall of the aircraft and when I felt this cold sensation where my love handles are and thought my bottle was dripping, As I turned to my left and looked down, I saw the cobra putting its head back underneath my seat.”

He had a moment of silence and wasn’t sure he should alert the passengers because he didn’t want to cause a panic. But they obviously needed to know at some point what was going on.

“I just said, ‘listen, there’s a problem. The snake is inside the aircraft. I’ve got a feeling it’s under my seat so we are going to have to get the plane on the ground as soon as possible. This was definitely a first and not something you get trained to handle, to be honest.”

After assisting the Beechcraft crew, calls was made for assistance to catch the notorious cobra. Snake catcher Johan de Klerk arrived to help find the snake hiding in the cabin. It got dark, so the search had to be postponed until the next day.

The next day a search was conducted again for the snake that still hadn’t been found, so aircraft engineers from Bloemfontein were called in to strip the plane. By midday, the snake still hadn’t been found, and the passengers opted to drive back by road. Erasmus’ courage and conduct helped save his life and his four passengers.

Aviation specialist and SA chief air show commentator Brian Emmenis said that the pilot Rudolf Erasmus, who had an encounter with the Cape cobra on his plane displayed “the greatest skill in aviation”. The South African Civil Aviation commissioner Poppy Khosa also hailed the 30-year-old pilot Erasmus as a hero.