Pilot lands plane with venomous cobra on board



A pilot in South Africa managed to safely land a plane after learning that he had an unwanted passenger aboard. Rudolf Erasmus landed the aircraft after a venomous Cape cobra came in contact with him during the flight.

Erasmus reportedly told CNN that he experienced a "cold sensation … underneath my shirt at my hip area."

"At first, I thought it was my water bottle leaking," he noted, according to the outlet. "As I then turned to my left and I looked down, I saw the head of the snake receding back underneath my seat."

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

"I had a moment of stunned silence, not sure if I should tell the passengers because I didn't want to cause a panic. But obviously they needed to know at some point what was going on," he said, according to TimesLIVE.

Erasmus alerted the passengers about the problem, and he eventually landed the plane.

The snake was under the seat when Erasmus disembarked, but unfortunately, because it later disappeared, it was not captured.

"He remained calm in the face of a dangerous situation and managed to land the aircraft safely without any harm to him or his fellow passengers on board, displaying to the world that he is an aviation safety ambassador of the highest order," South African Civil Aviation Authority director of civil aviation Poppy Khoza noted regarding the pilot.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

WATCH: A man suffered a venomous snake bite on his genitals. Here's what happened.



A 47-year-old Dutch man suffered a bite from a venomous snake on his genitals while vacationing at a South African nature preserve.

The unidentified man in the report was eventually flown by helicopter to the hospital after suffering a snake bite from a cobra that was hidden inside a toilet bowl.

It was reported that the man's genitals were purple and very swollen. He was suffering from scrotal necrosis, which is a medical term for scrotal tissue death.

The toxins in the venom were causing the underlying tissue on the man's genitals to break down. The doctors gave the man eight doses of snake venom antiserum, tetanus prophylaxis, and antibiotics. The venom included a toxin, metalloproteinase, that can destroy red blood cells and may have led to the man's kidneys failing, requiring him to undergo dialysis.

In this clip from "Pat Gray Unleashed," Pat discussed the story.

"This is a bad day," Pat said.

According to Insider, "The report added that a plastic surgeon also performed a "penile shaft debridement, with extensive resection of dead tissue extending into the corpus spongiosum to the fold of the preputium" effectively reconstructing the man's penis once healed."

Watch the clip for more details. Can't watch? Download the podcast here.


Want more from Pat Gray?

To enjoy more of Pat's biting analysis and signature wit as he restores common sense to a senseless world, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution and live the American dream.