Snake on a plane: reptile survives flight in freezing winds

Passengers on a flight to Papa New Guinea were shocked to see a 12ft python clinging on to the plane's wing at 30,000ft above sea level.

The plane was flying for about 20 minutes after it took off from Cairns in northern Australia when one passenger first saw the reptile in its fight to keep itself alive under such extreme conditions - 300mph winds and temperatures as low as -12C°.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, people on the plane couldn't stop talking about the snake, and were asking how it could have even gotten there.

"There was no panic," said passenger Robert Weber, "at no time did anyone stop to consider there might be others on board."

Mr Weber believes the snake was hiding in a small space near the wing and the wind should have pulled it out. Then, everything was about trying to survive.

"I felt quite sad for it really," he said, "for the remainder of the trip he was trying to pull himself back into the plane."

According to Mr Weber, the snake was able to still hang on despite all the cold and wind that would force it out every time it managed to pull itself back into a cavity.

No one knows precisely how the reptile could survive this flight to Papua New Guinea, but many believe that, as a cold-blooded creature, it was able to manage its body temperature so to adapt to the environment.

The pilot even got out of the main cabin to see the wing and thought the snake would be dead after all the battering it took.

Surprisingly, when the plane landed in Port Moresby the snake could still move. No one knows exactly what happened to the python afterwards but there were rumors it was killed by Papua New Guinea officials.