Snake on board

I do not usually like to copy and paste, but this I could not resist.
Makes me wonder how I would react. I am not a fan of snakes.


Pilot Fights Black Snake Stowaway on Plane
Friday, June 02, 2006

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Monty Coles was 3,000 feet in the air when he
discovered a stowaway peeking out at him from the plane's instrument panel
— a 4 1/2-foot black snake.

Coles had left Charleston earlier for a leisurely flight over the West
Virginia countryside last Saturday in his Piper Cherokee and was preparing
to land in Gallipolis, Ohio, when the snake revealed itself.

"Nothing in any of the manuals ever described anything like this," the
62-year-old Cross Lanes resident said. But the advice given 25 years
earlier from his flight instructor immediately came to mind: "No matter
what happens, fly the plane."

An attempt to swat the snake only resulted in it falling to Coles' feet
under the rudder pedals. It then darted to the other side of the cockpit.

While maintaining control of the single-engine plane with one hand, Coles
grabbed the reptile behind its head with his other.

"There was no way I was letting that thing go. It coiled all around my arm,
and its tail grabbed hold of a lever on the floor and started pulling,"
Coles said.

--
Mike Flyin'8
PP-ASEL
Temecula, CA
http://flying.4alexanders.com