Venomous 'Snakes on a Plane' situation causes pilot to make an emergency landing from 11,000 feet

• A pilot thought his water bottle was leaking, but it was actually a deadly snake slithering past.
• Rudolf Erasmus told Insider that he was initially stunned into silence but tried to remain calm.

A South African pilot had a real-life "Snakes on a Plane" situation on Monday when he spotted a cobra onboard while flying at 11,000 feet, forcing him to make a mid-flight emergency landing.

Rudolf Erasmus was flying his work colleagues in a Beechcraft Baron 58 over South Africa when he noticed a cold sensation on his hip.

"I actually thought it was my water bottle that was leaking," he told Insider.

But when he turned to look, he saw a snake's head disappearing beneath his seat in the cockpit.

"My first response, to be honest, was I had a moment of stunned silence and it was as if my brain did not register exactly what was going on," he said.

Erasmus quickly realized that it was a highly venomous Cape cobra that had made its way onto the plane.

Although shocking, it wasn't a total surprise – workers at the flying club he departed from had earlier spotted a snake taking shelter beneath the plane.

Cape cobras are regarded as one of Africa's most dangerous snake species, with their venom able to kill a fully grown human in as little as 30 minutes.

"There was definitely a sense of fear," he said, adding that his main concern was that the cobra would crawl into the passenger area.

Erasmus said that he tried to collect himself because "getting excited and panicking" would have escalated the situation.

He then calmly told the passenger what he had witnessed.

"They were also stunned with silence and I presume shock, as well, but luckily they all remained calm and it diffused the whole situation," he told Insider.

Erasmus said that he then directed all of his attention to making an emergency landing.

The landing took between 10 and 15 minutes to execute, Erasmus told local media, with all of the passengers disembarking without any injuries.

After leaving the plane, Erasmus said he stood on the wing and moved the seat forward to try and spot the snake. "It was curled up under my seat. It was quite a big fellow," he told local media outlet Lowvelder.

However, the snake is now missing, after a snake catcher and an engineer, who removed seats and panels from the plane to try and find it, failed in their efforts to capture it.

South Africa's civil aviation commissioner, Poppy Khosa, praised Erasmus as a "hero" for saving the lives of the passengers on board.

But he believes the praise is overblown.

"Everybody was a big help, to be honest, and as I said the passengers remaining calm helped a lot," he told Insider. "I think the whole 'hero' thing is a bit blown up."