When Monty Coles lifted his Piper Cherokee into the air for a leisurely Saturday flight over the West Virginia countryside, he didnt know a blacksnake had stowed away inside the airplanes instrument panel.
As far as I was concerned, everything was fine, said Coles, a 62-year-old private pilot from Cross Lanes. I did a very cautious pre-flight check on the plane because it has a fairly new engine. I didnt find a single thing out of order.
As Coles prepared to land for gas in Gallipolis, Ohio, the 4 1/2-foot snake revealed itself.
I was about 10 miles out of Gallipolis, 3,000 feet off the ground, and Id just finished scanning the instruments, he said. I looked up and saw the snakes head sticking out of a hole in the instrument panel.
At that moment, Coles said his thoughts flashed back to his flight training 25 years ago. Nothing in any of the manuals ever described anything like this, he deadpanned. But [instructor] Benny Mallory gave me the best advice I ever got No matter what happens, fly the plane.
As the snake poked its head farther outside the panel, Coles tried to whack it with a handheld radio.
Batteries went flying everywhere, and the snake dropped down out of the instrument panel and landed at my feet under the rudder pedals, Coles said. I tried to open my door and kick it out, but it shot across the cabin floor and climbed up the door on the other side.
While maintaining control of the plane with one hand, Coles used his other hand to grab the snake just behind its head.
There was no way I was letting that thing go. It coiled all around my arm, and its tail grabbed hold of a lever on the floor and started pulling, Coles said. I think it was as scared as I was. After all, it had never flown before.
With one hand on the steering yoke and the other wrestling the snake, the by-then-desperate pilot radioed ahead for help.