How do you fly a plane if you suspect a venomous cobra is loose on board?

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — A pilot in South Africa made a hasty emergency landing after discovering a highly venomous cobra under his seat. And then he had to take off again without knowing if the creature was still on the plane.

Rudolf Erasmus had four passengers on board the light aircraft during Monday’s flight out of Worcester when he felt “something cold” slide across his lower back. He glanced down to see the head of a fairly large Cape cobra “receding back under the seat,” he said.

“It was as if my brain didn’t know what was going on,” he told the Associated Press.

After taking a moment to compose himself, he informed his passengers of the stowaway.

“There was a moment of stunned silence,” he said, but everyone stayed cool.

Cape cobras, which can grow to about 5 feet, are one of Africa’s most dangerous cobra species because of the potency of their venom.

Erasmus called air traffic control for permission to make an emergency landing in the town of Welkom, in central South Africa. He still had to fly for another 10 to 15 minutes and land the plane with the snake curled up by his feet.

“I kept looking down to see where it was. It was happy under the seat,” Erasmus said. “I don’t have a big fear of snakes but I normally don’t go near them.”

Brian Emmenis, who works at a Welkom radio station and is also an aviation expert, received a phone call to see if he could help. He called the fire and rescue department, which sent emergency responders and a snake handler to meet the plane at the airport.

Emmenis was first at the scene and saw everyone disembark, “visibly shaken,” he said, but all safe thanks to Erasmus.

The drama wasn’t over for the poor pilot.

Welkom snake handler Johan de Klerk and a team of aviation engineers searched the plane for the best part of two days but still hadn’t found the cobra by Wednesday and were uncertain if it had sneaked out unnoticed.

The engineering company Erasmus works for wanted its plane back in the city of Mbombela in northern South Africa. So, he had to fly it back home, a 90-minute voyage with the possibility that the cobra was still onboard.

Unsurprisingly, his passengers decided to look for another way to get home.

This time Erasmus took some precautions: He wore a thick jacket, wrapped a blanket round his seat, and had a fire extinguisher, a can of insect repellent and a golf club within arm’s reach.

“I would say I was on high alert,” he said.

The cobra didn’t reappear on that flight and the plane has now been completely stripped, but still no sign of the snake, Erasmus said.

It might have got out in Welkom or might still be hiding somewhere deep in the plane.

“I hope it finds somewhere to go,” Erasmus said. “Just not my aircraft.”