A woman was stung by a scorpion while on a plane waiting to take off from Los Angeles International Airport, an airline spokesman said today.
Alaska Airlines Flight 567, bound for Portland, Oregon, was taxi-ing for takeoff Saturday night when the woman was stung on the hand, Alaska Airlines spokesman Cole Cosgrove told ABC News today.
"We don't know exactly how the scorpion made it on the plane," Cosgrove said, but added that the flight originated in Los Cabos, Mexico.
I have to admit that I refused to fly on Alaska Airlines for years, after having a airplane mechanic tell me that their planes were unsafe. (Though to be fair they are now rated as one of the safest airlines in the world, and their one and only fatal crash was in 2000.)
However never in my wildest imagination did I ever consider that one might be in danger of being stung by a scorpion.
Which I have to say is especially concerning, because like a lot of Alaskans I am somewhat leery of bugs. Especially bugs that can bite, sting, and poison you.
I lived in Hawaii for a year while attending college and one of their cane spiders crawled across my chest while I was in bed and I almost crapped myself.
Needless to say that arachnid died a brutal and possibly unnecessarily violent death.
In short I kind of feel about scorpions on planes the way that Samuel L. Jackson felt about snakes on planes.
Word.
I live in the Arizona desert with killer bees, rattlesnakes, scorpions, spiders (many of which are overly-large and extra-creepy), and ants (including everybody's favorite, the fire ant). I wouldn't trade the lot of them for the effing gnats and mosquitoes I lived with in Alaska.
ReplyDeleteThe black flies in Alaska sound worse than Adirondack black flies.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.adn.com/article/20130627/gazillions-black-flies-and-mosquitoes-keep-parts-alaska-unpopulated
My son was in college living in a 3rd floor apartment in Tampa. I get 4 am call ... my son says, his roommate has just been stung while sleeping by a scorpion and wants to know if his roommate will die.
ReplyDeleteThey ended up keeping the scorpion as a pet in a fish bowl .. fed it a cricket each week. Scorpion lived for over two years in fish bowl, then was released outside.
And this is why I'm okay with only having daughters!
DeleteSaw this on the news, and how that woman kept so calm is beyond me. They said she's a nurse, but I would have been screaming bloody murder!
ReplyDeleteMany naively think that after each flight, the cabin is cleaned out thoroughly, vacuumed and aseptic. They aren't, and cleaning staff probably just do a mild sweep.
ReplyDeleteHow does a big scorpion get into a plane? Did it crawl through cracks from the belly's luggage section?
Sounds like a prank, although a deadly one.
Hate crawly bugs, furry, crusty and all varieties that have spindly legs, and crusty exo-skeletons.
I would think that it came on board with carry-on luggage and was placed in the overhead area. The photo is NOT the type of scorpion commonly found in Mexico. If you are stung, try to remain quiet. Taking anti-histamines is recommended. Pain and numbness, tingling can last for more than a week!
DeleteO/T. Gryphen, check out Sarah's Facebook post about Greta Van Susteran's Fox special this eve on human trafficking.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous 6:14 - that is exactly right. They make a sweep to get rid of obvious trash. My husband once saw a scorpion crawling out of an overhead bin on a SW flight before they left the gate. Reported it to the crew and they evacuated the plane to check all the overhead bins.
ReplyDeleteBirdbrain53
Gryphen, looking up information on cane spiders, I'd rather be bitten by one of them than stung by a scorpion. Anyway, you did what I would have done when if a spider woke me up in bed and ran across my body. Dead spider! Even if it's rather harmless.
ReplyDeleteAlaska Airlines also had a fatal crash in 1967 or 68? The YMCA Jay Flood memorial park is named after one of the victims. The plane flew into a mountain going into Juneau.
ReplyDeleteI once woke up w/ a scorpion on my bed. Hair spray seemed to work. I have noticed more of them each summer.
ReplyDeleteI have lived in the Palm Springs area since the '70s, but even w/ exterminators , it is an issue at times.
At least it is mmore of the bee bite type of sting, I guess.