Found: A Snake on a Plane

In Muscat, Oman, an Emirates flight was preparing to head to Dubai, when staff found a snake hiding in the plane’s baggage hold.

According to the BBC, the airline has not said what type of snake was found on the plane or how large it was. But it was a notable enough snake that the flight was canceled, as the Times of Oman reports.

The snake was discovered before the plane took off, Emirates said. 

This past November, though, a snake made it into the air without detection. It climbed out of the overhead bins mid-way to Mexico City:

La vibora voladora…ja ja ja. Una experiencia única en el Vuelo Torreón-México, vuelo 231 de Aeroméxico. Eso si…Prioridad en aterrizaje. pic.twitter.com/qwDk6Wtszw

— Indalecio Medina (@Inda_medina) November 6, 2016

As the BBC points out, snakes end up on planes more often than one might expect. The snake flying over Mexico had much easier time than the scrub python that flew from Australia to Papua New Guinea in 2013 on the wing of a plane.

Really, snakes are adept at ending up in many places humans would rather not find them. In the past month, one snake—a young anaconda—found its way into the toilet of a home in Arlington, Va, while another, venomous species was discovered in a Christmas tree in Australia and three more were found in a package at a post office. 

Only snakes on a plane, though, have had the honor of being featured in the 2006 Samuel L. Jackson movie Snakes on a Plane.