Slithering snake on board Airbus A320 caused plane to divert
In my last posting (see here), I mentioned that there is a check list for every emergency on board the plane. Now I must confess that there is none for ‘Snake on board cabin’!
That was exactly what happened a few days ago day when a slender serpent was found slithering inside an Airbus A320 overhead baggage compartment in the aircraft cabin. It was on an AirAsia flight from Kuala Lumpur to Tawau. The plane was about halfway along the fight and the captain decided to diverted to Kuching as a precautionary measure to fumigate the aircraft
It was “a very rare incident which can occur on any aircraft from time to time”, according to the Chief Safety Officer at Air Asia Captain Ling Liong Tien.
Due to the rarity of such an event, the social media were abuzz with this story as it is extremely unusual to see a snake crawling on the baggage compartment.
The last reported case of such a nature was on 7 Nov 2016 where passengers aboard an Aeromexico flight from Torreon to Mexico City were disturbed by a slithery creature. The horrified passengers leapt out of their seats after a snake slither out of an overhead locker and dangled above them.
It was not known how the snake was able to board the plane, although in the past, there have been incidents of reptiles being smuggled on board.
In my previous posting, I have answered a question on what is the first thing to do in case of an emergency on a plane. Well, in this case the captain falls back of his normal mantra, ‘Aviate, Navigate and Communicate.’
Unfortunately, “Snake in the Cabin” is not in the Check List but he used his common sense to handle the situation when informed by the Senior Flight Attendant about it.
In aviation, a pilot is also taught to apply the “CLEAR” concept, a mnemonic to guide him handle any situation during an emergency:
“C” – Clarify the problem – Snake in the cabin.
“L” – Look for options – Whether to return to Kuala Lumpur, divert to Kuching or proceed to destination, Tawau?
”E” – Evaluate the options. The captain evaluated his 3 options and chose to divert to Kuching.
“A” – Act on his decision by turning right towards Kuching
“R” – Review on his decisions by asking 4 questions:
- Was the decision Safe?
- Was the decision Legal?
- Was the decision Feasible?
- Was the decision Economical?
Well, 3 of them were generally satisfied when the captain made the decision except that it was not economical to divert to Kuching. (Obviously, it was more economical to proceed to Tawau).
However, safety to the passengers was more important. (What if the snake was poisonous?) As such, he elected to divert to Kuching.
Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM) CEO Captain Datuk Chester Voo Chee Soon confirmed the incident and. said the aircraft together with all its passengers and crew had safely diverted to Kuching following the required safety procedures.
Well done to the captain!
See video on ‘Passengers find snake on plane headed to Mexico City’