There’s a movie coming out this summer called “Snakes on a Plane.” But for Monty Coles, one was quite enough.
According to a June 3 Associated Press story, the West Virginia pilot was enjoying a leisurely flight at 3,000 feet in his Piper Cherokee when he saw a stowaway peeking out from the plane’s instrument panel: a 4-½ foot snake.
“Nothing in any of the manuals ever described anything like this,” said the 62-year-old man. But advice given 25 years earlier from his flight instructor came to mind: “No matter what happens, fly the plane.”
Coles attempted to swat the snake but it fell to the pilot’s feet, then darted to the other side of the cockpit.
While maintaining control of the single-engine plane with one hand, Coles grabbed the reptile behind its head with his other.
“There was no way I was letting that thing go,” he said. “It coiled all around my arm, and its tail grabbed hold of a lever on the floor and started pulling.”
The next step was to radio for emergency landing clearance.
“They came back and asked what my problem was,” he said. “I told them I had one hand full of snake and the other hand full of plane. They cleared me in.”
After a smooth landing, Coles posed for pictures with the snake, then let it loose.
“That snake resides in Ohio now,” he said.