Snake on a Mooney

[ottorecker]

Hitching a ride on Kinzinger's Mooney from Texas (not my pics).  Looks like a Rat snake. I worry a lot more about the Black Widows I find in my hangar  that may find their way into my aircraft.  still.. that's a little creepy.  Had a scorpion bite my in ankle while a was in the pattern years ago when I was living in the Mojave.  I'm surprised creature bites don't happen more often. 

[Hank]

2 minutes ago, bluehighwayflyer said:

Snakes are beautiful creatures but they still give me the willies.  I was bitten by a black widow last year at the fuel pump at my airport.  I think it rode there on my clothes from my hangar.  Hurt like absolute hell a few hours later.  Not a surface pain like a bee sting.  It was more like an ache down deep to the bone.  A few days later the whole area got really dry and the skin flaked off.  Really weird.  

Be glad. A brown recluse got my ankle in 2017 or 18--doctor couldn't do anything, it was swollen and nasty colored for weeks. Dermatologist wouldn't see me, said he couldn't do anything either. Eventually went down, and the bullseye pattern slowly faded. Took more than a couple of months. 

[Hank]

1 minute ago, bluehighwayflyer said:

Hi, Hank.  I have seen pictures.  Those things are even worse.  It sounds like black widows are a walk in the park in comparison.  I’m glad you didn’t lose your foot.  

Me too! By the second week, I figured I'd probably be alright. No clue where it happened. I saw them occasionally in West-by-Gawd, but never here in Sweet Home where it got me.

Back on topic:  there's only four kinds of snakes I don't like:  big ones, little ones, live ones and dead ones. 

[Hank]

1 minute ago, bluehighwayflyer said:

Does this Mooney have an exhaust leak?  Is white staining like that around the cowl flap exit normal?

That's what I thought, too. But it's a really pale gray, I'm used to exhaust stains being darker, that's about the same color as my own lower fuselage. 

[LANCECASPER]

On 4/17/2023 at 9:03 PM, ottorecker said:

 

 

 

Looks like the crankcase breather tube might need to be inspected and cleaned. If you take them off it's pretty reasonable just to replace them.

There are a couple service bulletins that deal with this:

https://www.mooney.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/SBM20-312.pdf

https://www.mooney.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/SBM20-319.pdf

[A64Pilot]

Snakes on an aircraft are fine, I don’t like them either, but what can you do.

‘Now snake IN the aircraft is a whole other thing, if that ever happens, one of us is going to die.

[Shadrach]

On 4/17/2023 at 10:50 PM, bluehighwayflyer said:

Same here on my C model.  But LOP exhaust stains are much lighter in color. 

That stain looks just like the staining on my belly downstream of the exhaust.

[Shadrach]

On 4/17/2023 at 10:03 PM, ottorecker said:

Hitching a ride on Kinzinger's Mooney from Texas (not my pics).  Looks like a Rat snake. I worry a lot more about the Black Widows I find in my hangar  that may find their way into my aircraft.  still.. that's a little creepy.  Had a scorpion bite my in ankle while a was in the pattern years ago when I was living in the Mojave.  I'm surprised creature bites don't happen more often. 

Rat snakes are typically as docile as a pet. I have moved several by gently picking them up and walking them to a more favorable location. The larger they are, the more docile they seem to be.

[Yourpilotincommand]

That’s definitely a Mooney snake! Lol

[hais]

On 4/19/2023 at 11:02 AM, A64Pilot said:

Snakes on an aircraft are fine, I don’t like them either, but what can you do.

‘Now snake IN the aircraft is a whole other thing, if that ever happens, one of us is going to die.

Is it easy for snakes to get in? I'd imagine crawling through the engine and air vents isn't trivial. Even with open doors, it must be tough to get up the slippery surface. Perhaps they can drop in from the hanger roof. 

We have seen stories here, always wondered how they made it in.

[A64Pilot]

I don’t know how they get in, remember reading a story a few years ago about one climbing out of the instrument panel in a Cessna or something, gave me the willies.

How about one of these in the airplane with you?

https://www.npr.org/2023/04/05/1168206000/snake-on-a-plane-cobra-cockpit-south-africa

[hais]

16 minutes ago, A64Pilot said:

How about one of these in the airplane with you?

As you said, at least one of us would die. Not necessarily from blunt force trauma or toxins - more likely from a shock induced heart attack