"It Appeared on the Plane Floor, Then Disappeared"... Flight Canceled While Searching for 'This'

40-Centimeter Striped Snake Found on Japanese Aircraft... Flight Canceled
Airline: "It Appears to Have Entered the Aircraft from the Wild"

Image for illustrative purposes. Pixabay.

A snake was found aboard a domestic flight operated by Japan Air Commuter (JAC), a low-cost carrier affiliated with Japan Airlines (JAL), forcing the flight to be canceled.

According to Kyodo News, the Nishi Nippon Shimbun and other sources on the 21st, a 40-centimeter-long striped snake was found aboard an ATR 42 aircraft at Fukuoka Airport on the 19th. The aircraft had been scheduled to depart for Kagoshima. It had arrived at Fukuoka Airport that morning after departing Izumo Airport in Shimane Prefecture.

A pilot preparing for departure first spotted the snake in the cockpit. It fled and could not be located, so the flight scheduled for that day was canceled. The snake was found again the following day, the 20th. A maintenance worker lifted the carpet at the rear of the cabin and found it hiding underneath. A snake-removal expert was called in to capture it.

Striped snakes grow to 80-200 centimeters as adults and are believed to be nonvenomous. The snake found was a juvenile that had not yet reached adulthood, and how it got aboard remains unknown. The airline believes it may have entered the aircraft from the wild. The airline apologized, saying, "To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time a snake has entered one of our aircraft," and, "We apologize for the inconvenience caused to our passengers."

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