Paging Samuel L. Jackson, paging Samuel L. Jackson. Please proceed immediately to Qantas Flight 191, which just encountered a "motherf*****g snake," on a "motherf*****g plane."
Contrary to expectations, this is not a low-budget sequel to the 2006 Hollywood movie "Snakes On A Plane." The snake on this plane, bound from Cairns, Australia, to Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, was decidedly real.
About 20 minutes into the Thursday morning flight, reports the Sun-Herald, a woman notified cabin crews there seemed to be a snake on the wing.
Skepticism turned to disbelief, then sadness, as passengers realized there was indeed a snake hitching a ride on the aircraft -- and it was fighting for its life. While it had initially been safely tucked away, a gust of wind soon extended the cold-blooded creature, fully exposing it to the 10-degree temperatures outside.
"There was no panic," passenger Robert Weber told the Sun Herald. "At no time did anyone stop to consider that there might be others on board.''
An expert later identified the snake to the BBC as a 10-foot long scrub python, Australia's longest species of snake.
"It appears as though the snake has initially crawled up inside the landing bay, maybe housed himself in there, and then crawled into the trailing ledge flap assembly," Paul Cousins, the president of the Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association, explained to the outlet.
A Qantas representative told the Australian Times they'd never heard of this happening aboard their aircraft before.
As for the snake, the BBC reports it held on for the entire 1 hour, 50-minute flight, but ultimately did not survive the ordeal.
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