SA pilot lands plane after spotting Cape cobra midair

The pilot, Rudolf Erasmus, told TshisaLIVE that he felt a cold sensation on his body before he realised it was a Cape cobra and made an emergency landing. 

By: Rae Seleme

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‘PEOPLE AT WORCESTER TOLD US THEY SAW A CAPE COBRA’

According to the publication, pilot Rudolf Erasmus was on his way to Nelspruit in a Beechraft Baron with four passengers on Monday, 3 April when he saw the highly venomous Cape cobra on his plane.

“I usually travel with a water bottle that I lodge between my leg and my hip towards the side wall of the aircraft and when I felt this cold sensation where my love handles are and thought my bottle was dripping, As I turned to my left and looked down, I saw the cobra putting its head back underneath my seat.”

He had a moment of silence, and wasn’t sure he should alert the passengers because he didn’t want to cause a panic. But they obviously needed to know at some point what was going on.

“I just said, ‘listen, there’s a problem. The snake is inside the aircraft. I’ve got a feeling it’s under my seat so we are going to have to get the plane on the ground as soon as possible. This was definitely a first and not something you get trained to handle, to be honest.”

Erasmus who was scheduled to fly Monday morning from Worcester, Western Cape to Nelspruit, Mpumalanga made an emergency landing in Welkom, to drop the Cape cobra.

He adds that the people in Worcester airfield revealed they saw a Cape cobra lying beneath the wing on Sunday, 2 April. 

“When we did the preflight [procedure] on Monday morning, the people at Worcester Airfield told us they had seen a Cape cobra lying underneath the wing on Sunday afternoon. They tried to catch it themselves but unfortunately, it sought refuge inside the engine cowlings.”

They assumed the snake was gone when they opened the cowlings and didn’t spot anything. 

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‘PILOT RUDOLF ERASMUS DISPLAYED GREATEST SKILL IN AVIATION’

Aviation specialist and SA chief air show commentator Brian Emmenis told TshisaLIVE that the pilot Rudolf Erasmus, who had an encounter with the Cape cobra on his plane displayed “the greatest skill in aviation”.

“He could have panicked. He could have put that airplane in an uncontrollable spin. He could have rolled the aircraft with passengers falling all over the show, and with the bad weather, he could have lost sight of the ground and crashed, not only killing those on board but also people on the ground”, said Emmenis.

The South African Civil Aviation commissioner Poppy Khosa also hailed the 30-year-old pilot Erasmus as a hero.

Khoza told News24, “Oh my goodness this could have been disastrous. Great airmanship indeed which saved all lives on board. Such an amazing story and great handling of the situation by the pilot. Bravo to great airmanship. The hero of the day was indeed the pilot, Erasmus. He says he felt something cold against his back at an altitude of 9,000 feet (2.7 km) on Monday.”

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