PLANE FORCED TO RETURN AFTER A SANKE POPS OUT OF DASHBOARD

CANBERRA, Australia - An Australian pilot said he was forced to make a landing reminiscent of a Hollywood thriller after a snake popped out from behind his dashboard and slithered across his leg during a solo cargo flight.
Braden Blennerhassett said on Thursday that his heart raced as he tried to keep his hands still while manoeuvring the plane back to the northern city of Darwin. The snake popped its head out from behind the instrument panel several times, Blennerhassett said, and then the ordeal worsened when the animal crawled across his leg during the approach to the airport.
"I've seen it in a movie once, but never in an airplane," Blennerhassett told Australian Broadcasting Corp., referring to the 2006 movie Snakes on a Plane, in which deadly snakes are deliberately released in an airliner as part of a murder plot.

Once the plane had landed, a firefighter spotted the snake but authorities were not immediately able to catch it, Air Frontier official Michael Ellen said. A trap baited with a mouse failed to catch the snake by Thursday, and the plane remained grounded.
Wildlife ranger Sally Heaton said the snake was suspected to be a golden tree snake, a non-venomous species that can grow up to 1.5 meters (5 feet).

Source: AP