Snake in the Cockpit

By Ron Lisberg, Redtail 1

My neighbor James is a collector of all things odd.  James was moving from Southern California to Florence, Oregon and asked me to take him to Florence because he didn’t want to have to go through the airlines with his two six foot venomous snakes in snake cages.  One was a Cottonmouth Water Moccasin and the other was a Diamondback Rattlesnake.  I didn’t like the idea flying with things that slithered and consented to fly him and the two snakes to Florence.  I have known James for over twenty years and he has kept snakes since he moved across the street from me.  We in the neighborhood have never worried about them because he never brought them outside except for when we had the last earthquake.  It was in January and they were in hibernation then.  They weren’t hungry and there movements were slow and lethargic.  James said that they both were in hibernation and for the flight and were not a danger while in this state. 

I thought I could kill two birds with one stone dropping James off in Oregon and then coming back south to visit some of the California Redtails. 

At 12500ft, the temperature outside the cockpit was a chilly -20f so we had the heater lever out full and had about a 80f cockpit temperature. 

An hour into the four-hour flight I glanced in the back seat and saw one of the snakes moving!  I told James that I thought the snakes were dormant and he said the temperature in the cabin probably aroused them but I had nothing to worry about!  Then I heard this banging and hissing noise coming from the back seat.  James assured me everything was all right and that probable they probably awoke because of some of the turbulence we were experiencing and the heat.  They had seen each other in such close proximity and were trying to get at each other, IN MY AIRPLANE! 

James thought it was interesting how they were posturing at each other until one of them struck at the other with so much force it opened the door! 

In a flash the loose snake was slithering around the others cage.  Now I have a six-foot venomous Cottonmouth Water Moccasin LOOSE in the backseat of the airplane!  I commanded James who was trying to catch it with his bare hands to do something and then I declared an emergency.  I asked for and emergency decent to the nearest airport which was Fresno, CA.  I threw the gear down, hung out all 30 degrees of flaps, and started down.  Just then, we caught some more turbulence.  My head hit the ceiling; the cages in the back also hit the ceiling and brushed my head while coming down. 

My main concern was to fly the airplane and get us on the ground!  Then we hit another round of turbulence and James hollered out that the snake had bit him.  Moreover, he could not find the snake.  I was too afraid to move but I did remember it was awful hot in the cabin.  I slowly reached for the heater handle, pushed it in, and remember immediately getting cold. 

I did not want to move to fast not knowing were the snake was.  I glanced at James and he was holding his hand that had swollen to about twice its size.  James was breathing laboriously and could see he was going into shock, just then I caught a glimpse of the Cottonmouth Water Moccasin climbing around the window post on James’s side of the airplane. 

In all this time, I was screaming down with the VSI needle pegged and the airspeed at about 100mph.  I faintly heard ATC asking me about how many souls we had on board but I was busy trying to fly the airplane and to not be bitten by that despicable Cottonmouth Water Moccasin now on the side of the airplane. 

I happened to be over the airport at the time and was able to spiral down with one eye on the snake and one eye on the field.  The landing was not my best and the jarring of the landing jarred the snake off the sidewall of the airplane, along the door next to James. 

I came to a stop on the runway and glanced at James and he was slumped over leaning against the door not moving.  I jumped out as soon as we came to a stop and to my surprise; the fire trucks and emergency people appeared.  I tried to warn them about the snakes but they were at the door before I could yell at them.  When they opened the door, the snake fell to the ground and one of the firefighters took off as if he was shot out of a cannon.  Another firefighter had the good sense to hit the snake with water out of the hose and move him out of the way so they could extract James to a stretcher. 

I told the firefighters that he had been bitten by the snake and it was a Cottonmouth Water Moccasin.  While I was pacing around Tumbleweed later when I remembered the Rattlesnake in the cage on the back seat.  When I went to look for it low and behold, the door to that cage was open and the snake was not in it.  I stood back while the animal control guy looked for it in the airplane.  He looked for an hour but had no luck finding it so he gave up. 

Back at the hospital James was administered some anti-venom at the hospital and was ready to continue the next day. 

The flight was uneventful except every time something would move in the cabin I was checking it out.  I kept feeling something crawling up my leg but it was my pants moving along my thigh.  I still remember vividly the firefighter taking off when that snake fell out of the airplane. 

I still have not found the Rattlesnake, but now when I make a pre-flight I still look for the hibernating Rattlesnake and to this day I do not like getting the cabin to warm!