Python on plane wing does not survive hitchhiking adventure

In a real life "Snakes on a Plane," a 9-foot amesthystine python hitched a ride on a Qantas Bombadier 400 -- but the poor reptile was not inside creating any threat. The python appeared on the wing during the flight and there was nothing the passengers could do but watch as it was whipped around by the wind in the freezing temperatures.

The snake was dead on arrival in Port Moresby. A spokesperson for the airline says, "We have never heard of this happening before. The python must have taken refuge on the exterior of the aircraft at Cairns Airport overnight before take off."

David Williams, a herpetologist who works at the University of Melbourne and the University of Papua New Guinea tells the Herald Sun these snakes "occur in the Mt. Whitfield area directly opposite Cairns airport and probably also in the mangroves that surround the airport."