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

wrote:
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.

I guess we'll find out how Samuel L. Jackson reacts to Snakes on a
Plane in a couple months. That movie looks / sounds so cheesy, it just
might be good!

--
Guy

wrote in message
...
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.

Hard to say exactly what kind of snake was involved, but I'm not aware of
any venomous snakes in the US that are all black. A venomous snake would
certainly worry me a bit, but a non-venomous one (such as was most likely
involved in this story) is unlikely to cause any sort of trouble at all,
unless the pilot specifically attacks it (such as in the posted story). The
worst it is likely to do is bite, which would be painful but not otherwise
threatening to the flight.

Even a venemous snake could easily leave the pilot alone all the way to a
safe landing, as long as the pilot leaves it alone too. IMHO, the correct
response would be to simply identify the nearest airport and land there
ASAP. Once on the ground, then you can worry about whether the snake is
venomous, and what to do with it (generally speaking, the local animal
control officials would be a good place to start).

Wrestling with a snake in the airplane when you ought to be flying the plane
instead seems like a pretty bad idea.

Pete

I believe the article was not saying it was a snake that was black in
color, but that it was a "black snake," also known as a "rat snake."
They get big, but are not venemous nor particularly aggressive. Still,
I wouldn't want one pulling levers in the plane...

Cheers,
Wiz

Peter Duniho wrote:
wrote in message
...
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.

Hard to say exactly what kind of snake was involved, but I'm not aware of
any venomous snakes in the US that are all black. A venomous snake would
certainly worry me a bit, but a non-venomous one (such as was most likely
involved in this story) is unlikely to cause any sort of trouble at all,
unless the pilot specifically attacks it (such as in the posted story). The
worst it is likely to do is bite, which would be painful but not otherwise
threatening to the flight.

Even a venemous snake could easily leave the pilot alone all the way to a
safe landing, as long as the pilot leaves it alone too. IMHO, the correct
response would be to simply identify the nearest airport and land there
ASAP. Once on the ground, then you can worry about whether the snake is
venomous, and what to do with it (generally speaking, the local animal
control officials would be a good place to start).

Wrestling with a snake in the airplane when you ought to be flying the plane
instead seems like a pretty bad idea.

Pete

"Wiz" wrote in message
ps.com...
I believe the article was not saying it was a snake that was black in
color, but that it was a "black snake," also known as a "rat snake."

It's true that many people refer to the black rat snake as a "black snake",
but the article is not clear on this, and there are other black snakes
referred to as a "black snake".

If the article had said it was a "black rat snake" then we'd know for sure
what kind of snake it was. But they didn't, so we don't.

"Peter Duniho" wrote

Hard to say exactly what kind of snake was involved, but I'm not aware of
any venomous snakes in the US that are all black.

A "black snake" is a real type of snake, not just "a snake that is black."

They are about as benign of a snake that exists. They hang out in gardens,
and in forests, and don't constitute any threat to people. They may bite
you, if you corner them, but all you get is a couple of puncture wounds out
of the deal.
--
Jim in NC

"Morgans" wrote in message
...
A "black snake" is a real type of snake, not just "a snake that is black."

No, it's not. There is no single snake that is uniquely known as a "black
snake".

Just because people in different regions use a generic term to describe a
common snake in their area, that doesn't make it a correct taxonomic
description.

"Peter Duniho" wrote in message
...
wrote in message
...
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.

Hard to say exactly what kind of snake was involved, but I'm not aware of
any venomous snakes in the US that are all black. A venomous snake would
certainly worry me a bit, but a non-venomous one (such as was most likely
involved in this story) is unlikely to cause any sort of trouble at all,
unless the pilot specifically attacks it (such as in the posted story).
The worst it is likely to do is bite, which would be painful but not
otherwise threatening to the flight.



In my eyes, ALL snakes are venomous!!!




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"C. Massey" wrote:



In my eyes, ALL snakes are venomous!!!

A little education would cure that. Many snakes are beneficial to humans;
it's a mistake to kill them indiscriminately.

--
Dan
C172RG at BFM

"Dan Luke" wrote in message
...

"C. Massey" wrote:



In my eyes, ALL snakes are venomous!!!

A little education would cure that. Many snakes are beneficial to humans;
it's a mistake to kill them indiscriminately.



All of the education in the world won't change my mind!

And where did I say anything about killing snakes? Personally, I won't get
close enough to a snake to kill it!




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