For Rudolph Erasmus, a South African airplane pilot, the flight from Cape Town to Nelspruit in the north of the country should be a short and routine journey like any other. All was well until the pilot noticed an unexpected “passenger” in the cabin: not a human, but a cobra crawling over him as the plane flew at an altitude of 11,000 feet.
Rudolph Erasmus therefore had to make an emergency landing on Welkom: “At first I did not understand what was happening, I felt something cold in my body – the pilot told BBC – Turning to the left and looking down, I saw the cobra resting its head under my seat”. The bite of some cobra species can kill a human in 30 minutes, but Erasmus tried to keep his calm, carefully considering the possibility of revealing the snake’s presence to passengers who were afraid to cause panic on board.
Finally, the pilot decided to tell the passengers everything: “There is a snake on the plane, it is in my seat right now and we will try to land as soon as possible”. Pilots are trained to deal with all sorts of problems, but finding a cobra in the cockpit is certainly not an unexpected occurrence that happens often. That’s why South African Civil Aviation Commissioner Poppy Khosa wanted to commend Rudolph Erasmus’ heroic composure: “He saved the lives of all the people on board with his marvelous piloting skills”.
Source: Today IT
Karen Clayton is a seasoned journalist and author at The Nation Update, with a focus on world news and current events. She has a background in international relations, which gives her a deep understanding of the political, economic and social factors that shape the global landscape. She writes about a wide range of topics, including conflicts, political upheavals, and economic trends, as well as humanitarian crisis and human rights issues.
