Pilot turns back after snake pops out of dashboard

[xchrom]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_ODD_AUSTRALIA_SNAKE_ON_A_PLANE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-04-05-02-41-35

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) -- An Australian pilot said he was forced to make a harrowing landing reminiscent of a Hollywood thriller after a snake popped out from behind his dashboard and slithered across his leg during a solo cargo flight.

Braden Blennerhassett - unsure whether the snake was venomous - said Thursday that his heart raced as he tried to keep his hands still while maneuvering the plane back to the northern city of Darwin. The snake popped its head out from behind the instrument panel several times, Blennerhassett said, and then the ordeal worsened when the animal crawled across his leg during the approach to the airport.

"I've seen it on a movie once, but never in an airplane," Blennerhassett told Australian Broadcasting Corp., referring to the 2006 movie "Snakes on a Plane," in which deadly snakes are deliberately released in an airliner as part of a murder plot.

The 26-year-old Air Frontier pilot was alone in a twin-engine Beechcraft Baron G58 and had just left Darwin airport on a cargo run to a remote Outback Aboriginal settlement when he saw the snake on Tuesday.

[magical thyme]

1. AAAAACCCKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!

land of the most poisonous snakes on earth!!!!!!!

Poor guy!!!!!!!!

[xchrom]

3. i would have Fainted

[SmileyRose]

2. Where's Samuel L Jackson when ya need him?

Poor guy! Miracle he kept it together long enough to land.

[malaise]

4. Wow!

I'd have crashed that aircraft

[Are_grits_groceries]

5. Hate when that happens....

[madokie]

6. Shortly after shitting my pants I'd die of a heart attack n/t

ETA: On the way home from work yesterday my wife had a spider come out of the defroster vent on her explorer, bout shit her pants on that.
I think I know what one of my projects for today is going to be

[Cirque du So-What]

7. I've seen people freak out while driving

when they discover a bee or wasp in the car. I wonder how many fatalities are caused from this? Once the car is cracked up, the offending insect could fly out a broken window, leaving police, medics & family members with only questions about what actually happened.

[SomethingFishy]

8. Snakes.. why'd it have to be snakes..

[HopeHoops]

9. I hate when a mutherfuckin' snake pops out of the mutherfuckin' dashboard.

[xchrom]

10. ...