As someone who hates snakes, a situation like this is absolutely terrifying to me…
Continue reading: Yikes: Snake On A Plane Causes AirAsia Diversion
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Well, in 2015, on a Qantas flight from Cairns to Brisbane, we spotted a Huntsman Spider under the overhead bins. As the cabin crew tried to catch it, it felt onto the seats beneath and disapeared (darn, they‘re fast…). The seat was occupied by a QF-Captain on reserve and all he said, was „only dangerous, when they are bigger…“. For us Europeans it was already way to big. My spouse‘s feet never touched the ground until we landed in Brisbane 🙂
Well with loads of planes being in storage during the pandemic I am not surprised nature is taking shelter.
Those Huntsman spiders are EVERYWHERE in Australia. I had one even in the visor of my rental car. I nearly died swerving off the road as it fell onto my lap. I have no idea how Australians live with these monsters. And how casual they are about them. Sure, they are supposed to be harmless...but they are HUGE and really nasty looking. No thanks.
That's a baby snake ;).
Living in Southeast Asia, I've developed more confidence around anything less than 10 feet long. The spiders and monitor lizards...well, that's a different story...
At that point, I think I'd be trying to open the exit door and get out! I'm pretty brave about most things, but spiders are my weak spot. Gross, dangerous, crafty, nasty. And having a big, hairy thing like that loose on my plane would drive me nuts.
This is truer than you think. There was an article last summer about grounded Qantas A380's being stored in the desert in the U.S. (not sure why not in Australia). As part of the routine upkeep of them the technicians there had to weekly go around with "snake sticks" and beat them out of the wheel wells etc. Apparently they mass inside any available access without regular extraction. Can you imagine that as your job?
Monkey fighting snakes on this Monday through Friday plane? Best TV edit known to man btw!
...made the mistake of watching that second video while sitting in a restaurant...and jumped out of my seat when the snake fell in that 2nd video...I think I alarmed the people around me!!
If that was my reaction to the video, I can't imagine how I would deal with it in person!!
Qantas has its A380 maintenance hangar and engineers at LAX. (It's a very large hangar at the western end of the airport.) So while other Qantas aircraft were stored in Australia, the A380s fleet was sent to Victorville to be close to engineers. As each aircraft is prepared for a return to service, it goes VCV-LAX to the hangar to be prepped and tested.
"I've had it with these mother flippin' snakes on this mother flippin' plane!!!!"