Passengers on a Qantas flight over Australia got more than what they bargained for yesterday when they spotted a 3,6m-long python clinging on to one of the plane’s wings.

It is believed that the python had crawled up inside the landing bay before entering the trailing ledge flap assembly. According to the passenger who filmed the video below, Robert Weber, the strong wind kept pulling the animal out of the wing:

The wind pulled him straight out. What followed was a life and death struggle for the snake. For the remainder of the trip, he was trying to pull himself back into the plane. But each time it managed to pull itself back into a cavity, the wind forced it out again.

The animal held on for the entire one hour and 50-minute flight between the Australian town of Cairns and Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea. The wind speed was 400 km/h and the temperature was minus 12 degrees during the flight.

Qantas spokesperson Thomas Woodward said that, when the plane touched down, the snake was still clinging to the wing, but it was dead.

Video footage of the incident can be seen below, however, please be warned that it might be upsetting to some viewers:

[Source: Sydney Morning Herland]