Snake Tries To Scam Airline

Snake clings to plane wing on Australian flight

 Jan 10 2013 

SYDNEY (AP) —  Snake aboard aircraft has turbulent flight.

Stunned Qantas Airways passengers watched out their windows as a large python clung to a plane's wing during a two-hour flight from Australia's northeastern city of Cairns to Papua New Guinea.

The 3-meter (10-foot) python fought to stay on the wing, pulling itself forward only to be pushed back by the frigid wind.

Passenger Robert Weber videotaped the struggle and told Australia's Fairfax Media that the wind whipping the snake against the side of the plane left a bloody smear.

The python managed to hang on until the plane landed in Port Moresby, but a Qantas spokesman said the creature was dead on arrival. (DOA)

Employees at a Snake Emergency Center in Papua worked for two hours in a futile effort to revive the snake. Funeral services for the snake were pending during a search for next of kin.

Quantas officials sought to learn if the snake had a valid ticket or was trying to fly free as a stowaway.