r/interestingasfuck • u/bondbro • 14h ago
On September 11, 2001, a rare exception to the total shutdown of U.S. civilian airspace was made to save the life of a snake handler in Florida who had been bitten by a deadly inland taipan.
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u/cannuckwoodchuck13 13h ago
Today I also learned that the guy that had to make the call to ground every plane in the US was working his first day in the position.
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u/ArtOk8200 12h ago
Wow, talk about a crazy first day on the job
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u/DreddPirateBob808 11h ago
His boss: "oh fuck. I'm not carrying the can on this one! Get that new guy in here. He just got promoted!"
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u/ozone227 14h ago
Venomous.
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u/ajax0202 14h ago
Could you die (or at least get sick) if you ate the venom?
Because then it could technically be poisonous too
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u/CactusToothBrush 13h ago
If you have an open wound in your stomach yeah. If not your stomach acids will render the venom moot and break it down like it would anything else protein based
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u/BadahBingBadahBoom 13h ago edited 13h ago
There are a few rare snakes which are actually poisonous, but vast majority you should (and I cannot emphasis this enough) be fine consuming assuming you have no open wounds, gingivitis, and haven't brushed your teeth or flossed recently.
Obviously please don't go drinking snake venom to try this out.
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u/LoveDesignAndClean 11h ago
Some species of keelback snakes I think fall under the category of both venomous and poisonous, and some garter snakes of the Pacific Northwest can be poisonous because of their diet of toxic newts
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u/Bryan_OBlivion 10h ago
Wild Hognoses are often mildly poisonous due to toads being a common food item, but they are also mildly venomous.
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u/kayl_breinhar 13h ago edited 12h ago
If you swished it in your mouth long enough, it can get into the bloodstream sublingually or into/through your gums. If you drank it like a shot, the second it hit your stomach it'd be denatured and destroyed. Venoms are (mostly) proteins and peptides, exactly what our digestive system is designed to break down and process into energy.
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u/Humphrey-Appleby 14h ago
Everything is poisonous. It's only a matter of quantity.
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u/Standard_Big_9000 13h ago
Even pizza? 😁
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u/goodhobbies 12h ago
One of my mom’s favorite facts — this is something she would repeat all the time even when I was like 11 — is that marijuana is not poisonous because the dose where you would just fall asleep (a) is massive and (b) is way lower than anything approaching fatal. (Or so she said, so many times.) Anyway, maybe pizza is the same?
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u/Blonde_Vampire_1984 12h ago
Terms and restrictions apply. Edible marijuana products significantly increase the risk of a dangerous overdose in children and adults of small body size. A fatal overdose is possible if a small child eats too many herbal gummies.
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u/AardvarkOkapiEchidna 14h ago
Probably not from the same quantity, unless it gets into a cut in your mouth or something.
I still wouldn't risk it.
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u/Kiloth44 8h ago
If I bite the snake and that causes it to bite me which then kills me, that would mean i bit it and I died so technically it’s poisonous.
Checkmate, redditor.
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u/Laambicus 14h ago
Thank you, so triggering to me when poisonous is misused
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u/mechmind 14h ago
And the Saudi royal family is seem to remember
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u/myfrigginagates 14h ago
And bin Laden family members in US.
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u/Level_Werewolf_8901 14h ago
Are these two coments saying the Saudi family as well as the bin Laden familys were also allowed to fly?
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u/DyingSunSeverian 14h ago
It’s amazing how people can’t construct sentences anymore.
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u/slicerprime 13h ago
I wonder how many Redditors have ever diagrammed a sentence.
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u/Mefromafar 14h ago
Yes correct.
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u/Level_Werewolf_8901 13h ago
TIL, looked into it, seems like Saudia Arabia requested extradition due to fears of retaliation, and the CIA flew them out under cover of dark
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u/followsvoices 13h ago
Hmm how would Saudi know they were involved... hmm...
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u/BeanieMcChimp 13h ago
It was widely known everywhere shortly after it happened.
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u/myfrigginagates 4h ago
I am saying that the bin Laden family, who were at that time friends of the Bush family, were allowed to fly while air space was restricted in the days after 9/11.
There. Sorry, I was busy yesterday when I commented, so I kept it short.
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u/Sonikku_a 13h ago
Honestly I’m OK with it. They were NOT a fan of Osama to say the least, and given what had just happened they could have been targeted by angry morons just seeing the name
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u/SexyMonad 13h ago
Are you telling me that someone would throw a name around, say like Barack HUSSEIN Obama, out of hatred?
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u/1-900-Rapture 5h ago
The Eagle of Patriotism will visit you to snatch that from your memory and replace it with a "USA! USA! USA!" chant.
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u/Florida_Rose 14h ago
Why didn’t they just put the anti venom in one of the fighter jets? I can’t imagine it’s huge, or couldn’t be kept at a stable temperature for the flight
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u/ion_driver 14h ago
Because the hospital sent a courier to the airport and the charter jet was sitting on the runway waiting for approval to take off. Its not like they would just drive over to the local air force base. It's way faster for the jet to fly over at mach whatever to escort
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u/lionexx 14h ago
Ontop of the specialized medical container that regulated the temperature, getting to a AFB which could’ve been many miles away, while the departing jet was already ready to take off, and many of the US jets were already in the sky.
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u/Kohpad 14h ago
Getting the package to a civilian runway was probably a whole adventure on 9/11 trying to get on to an Air Force base may have actually been impossible depending on the hour.
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u/Dirtydeedsinc 13h ago
I was active duty military on that day, you weren’t getting anywhere near the base. They even kicked all the DoD civilians off base for a day or so until they figured things out.
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u/Ws6fiend 10h ago
Granted it's been so long ago now, but I remember the video footage of the local base and the massive traffic jam it caused trying to get everyone off the base and on.
Basically created it's own problem as if there would have been a threat the off base army couldn't get on because civilians contractors were blocked by the massive amount of vehicles coming and going. (Also really funny to me that they kicked off ALL civilian contractors considering the sheer number of them that were veterans who were probably recalled or offered positions in the following weeks.)
Back then that base almost everyone was to use the main entrance. That day was a madhouse. I think traffic basically forced so many people to have a half day because by the time they got there it was after lunch.
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u/saywhattyall 14h ago
Honestly I think it’s due the the fact it probably would have to be put in some kind of medically required temperature controlled box which surprising wouldn’t fit in a fighter jet, unless I’m mistaken. Those jets are so crammed with electronic and systems that I don’t believe they would have been able to fit it as strange as that sounds
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u/Throwaway-donotjudge 14h ago
Sticking it to a missile would ensure a quick and accurate delivery without landing the plane
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u/itsonlyastrongbuzz 14h ago
It’s not a wrong assumption, but a human heart was transported by an USAF F-4 Phantom back in 1986, so I’m sure a vial of anti-venom could’ve been moved similarly.
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u/Florida_Rose 14h ago
Yea. I feel like a cooler full of dry ice and a fan to control temperature would be an option. But I’m sure an awful lot of people smarter than me had this conversation on 9/11
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u/trick6iscuit 14h ago
It probably wasn't just one set of fighter jets most don't have that kind of range without drop tanks or an aerial refueling jet.
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u/Grisu1805 14h ago
I mean, Germany did it in 1982 with a F-104 Starfighter, so yeah, it should have been possible.
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u/GothmogBalrog 13h ago
Because it wasn't just 2 fighter jets. It was multiple but always at least 2. The fighters dont have range without aerial and the tankers weren't going up. But there are enough airbases between CA and NY that were on high alert thatthe could just cycle through escorts. The commercial plane though had range to do the flight in one go
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u/FishAroundFindTrout9 8h ago
No reason to really. Fighter jets can’t fly at insane speeds very long so it’s not like the time difference would have been very substantial if any at all. A business jet is better equipped for a long, relatively fast cruise.
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u/Bruce-7892 14h ago
Outside of deployment, there are a lot of layers of bureaucracy, planning and approval to put a fighter jet in the air for something unconventional like that. It's not like you can just call up the local base and get one on short notice.
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u/MoeSzyslakMonobrow 13h ago
Not true. The Saudi royal family was allowed to fly out of the country.
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u/bdizzzzzle 7h ago
No this is not true either quit spreading misinformation, they flew out on the 13th
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u/BlazedGigaB 14h ago
I lived outside Pittsburgh at the time and I remember going outside after they'd shutdown and seeing 1 plane... it was flight 93.
My roommate was in Las Vegas for his dad's 2nd marriage on 9/12. His step mom worked in the north tower and lost quite a few friends.
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u/Macgrubersblaupunkt 13h ago
Whats that hospital bill?
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u/Onlyroad4adrifter 13h ago
He is is working on his 6th bankruptcy to finish paying it off
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u/BlackTransAm78 13h ago
Shouldn’t he have anti-venom for that snake if he is handling it?
That is the most poisonous snake in the world
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u/CrankkDatJFel 13h ago
Nah we handle the snake in Miami and keep the anti venom all the way in California. standard protocol
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u/DreddPirateBob808 11h ago
A friend worked over in Australia as a snake catcher. He's a Brit (well, was at the time) and caught one he didn't recognise and called the boss over for an identification as he tipped it out of the bag. To quote: 'and then suddenly everyone was running away'.
I've no idea what it was but he said something along the lines of 'if I'd been bitten, by the time the anti-venom got there I wouldn't need it either way'.
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u/DeliciousPoetryMan 3h ago
What happened to the snake? I imagine that he probably doesn't know where the snake ended up but does he have a general idea of where it would go. I'm not familiar with how snake catchers do things.
Also, It sounds like all it did was sit around whilst everyone ran from it in fear, considering there's no mention of the snake actually doing anything. I find it sorta funny.
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u/Yuri909 13h ago
That's not entirely true. The Civil Air Patrol was also permitted to fly, and we did.
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u/much_thanks 14h ago
So, after this guy gets bitten by a highly poisonous snake ... he decided to eat it?!
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u/Dy3_1awn 14h ago
Maybe it was a Japanese grass snake that was on vacation in Miami. They are both poisonous and venomous.
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u/Gerry1of1 12h ago
This plane AND.... Saudi nationals—including members of the Bin Laden family—were permitted to board charter flights and leave the United States before commercial traffic was reopened.
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u/SoulShine_710 14h ago
Not true, the bin laden family was allowed to fly out of Orlando in the middle of the night by the CIA...
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u/Anuki_iwy 14h ago
Why let go of so much leverage?
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u/Peligineyes 14h ago edited 14h ago
Osama was already estranged from his extended family by then, he lost Saudi Arabian citizenship in 1990 and his family publically disowned him in 1994. The US govt evacuted his extended family to SA because the SA embassy requested it, thinking they would be lynched.
I doubt he would've turned himself in if the US threatened the lives of his family.
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u/Anuki_iwy 13h ago
Fair enough
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u/UnderlightIll 12h ago
No, not fair enough. They should have been questioned like anyone else after a relative commits a heinous crime.
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u/fuuuuuuuuckthi_s 11h ago
They don't tend to question estranged family for crimes commented during estrangement. That would be pretty silly.
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u/Lost_Exchange2843 47m ago
Would it not have been more efficient to just put the anti-venom in one of the fighter jets and just send that…
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u/hoveringuy 13h ago
No, my squadron flew a C-9 to the East Coast with medical supplies. They took off from Seattle and their clearance was "cleared direct".
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u/egowritingcheques 13h ago edited 8h ago
If you are getting bitten by an Inland Taipan in the USA you essentially chose to die.
Even in their native country it's EXTREMELY difficult to get bitten by one. You either need to be very very unlucky or you are trying to die.
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u/TheBlockChainVillage 6h ago
Weren't the bin laden family also on a plane leaving the usa when the attack was happening?
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u/rygelicus 13h ago
Not quite true. There was another. It was a DOT plane with the FAA. Friend of mine was the pilot, David Clemmer. The article... https://archive.ph/QRCjP While it was a DOT plane with the FAA it was still ordered to land being non military. But he had Ashcroft on board and he had been called back to washington for obvious reasons. They got an F16 escort back to Washington National.
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u/aaandfuckyou 13h ago
Wasn’t there another post about how firefighting planes in the North East were also permitted to continue flying after the shut down?
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u/PrometheusMMIV 13h ago
They didn't have anti-venom anywhere closer than the other side of the country?
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u/radius55 12h ago
This is a snake that only lives in Australia. Hospitals don't stock medicines they never expect to use.
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u/Pielacine 13h ago
That’s the kind of plane that went down in that screaming wreck in Philly a few years ago.
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u/RyoMedok 11h ago
Looks like a plot for a Hollywood action movie: escort fighters, closed airspace, a deadly bite, and a ticking clock
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u/SnooRegrets1386 8h ago
It was actually scary to hear an airplane during the shutdown, because the reality that fighter jets were the only aircraft in the sky was grim
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u/vernonmason117 8h ago
Wasn’t it for a kid and not an adult?
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u/Sassy-irish-lassy 7h ago
Those snakes don't live in the United States. The only person with access to it would likely be a professions
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u/TheB1G_Lebowski 7h ago
Well them and the Bin Laden family was allowed to fly after all planes were grounded.
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u/atticus2132000 3h ago
"escorted by two fighter jets"
Why not just give the anti venom to one of the pilots in the fighter jet to deliver? It took three planes to make one delivery.
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u/Gunk_Olgidar 3h ago
There were a few others used to evacuate Saudi royal family from the US back to SA. Some of which were directly related to Bin Ladin.
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u/RedHuey 2h ago
There are actually multiple stories purporting to tell the tale of “the only plane allowed to fly after 9/11.” There’s yet another one about a transplant patient. It’s most likely there were a few exceptions, taken case-by-case, that are just used as clickbait on 9/11 anniversaries.
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u/TheGreatBlondini2010 14h ago
At the airport where I work we had a Bell 206 leave before it all happened. Up to some logging camp up the coast putting fallers on the hill. Came back in the evening. The tower told him the airspace was closed. He basically said fair enough but I don't have enough gas to go anywhere else so I am landing there. Which he did.
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u/Equal-Incident5313 12h ago
Pepperidge Farms remembers Bin Ladin’s family was flown out of USA on 9/11
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u/InfiniteRespect4757 12h ago
If you going to send fighter to escort it, when not just toss the anti-venom in one of the fighter and cut out the middle man?
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u/lazyfacejerk 11h ago
George W. Bush helped his Arab oil friends evacuate the country, and they were able to get on planes and leave. They were relatives of bin Laden.
So he immediately knew who did it, and helped the fucker's family escape the US.
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u/merount1 5h ago
Osama's family wanted nothing to do with him, they had to be evacuated because of lunatics like you.
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u/irwtkyrm 14h ago
If he was bitten by a poisonous snake he should be fine without anti-venom, just don't eat the snake.
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u/Sturnella2017 11h ago
Is there a source for this? Sounds a bit too good to be true. Plus I also heard that members of bin Ladens family were flown out of the country as well
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u/AlbertaBikeSwapBIKES 11h ago
Not true. The U.S. government permitted chartered flights carrying prominent Saudi nationals—including relatives of Osama bin Laden—to leave the United States shortly after the September 11 attacks while general civilian airspace was still restricted.
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u/Dockers4flag2035orB4 14h ago
Wouldn’t it be quicker to deliver the anti venom on one of the fighter jets?
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u/lionexx 14h ago
Theoretically, yes, logistically, no, it would’ve been a nightmare, the courier would’ve had to of routed to an AFB, the jet would’ve needed space for the container, they aren’t huge but they are bulky and generally temperature regulated, the pilot would’ve had to of landed at an AFB, the other courier would have needed clearance to be on the runway (at both AFBs) there is no guarantee the AFB in FL would’ve been close enough, most jets were already in the air… oh and the original plane that was charted was already on the tarmac waiting for the okay to take off.
When you take into consideration all the variables, it would’ve take a lot longer.
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u/TooTallTrey 14h ago
Escorted is a weird word. More like “Stay on your flight path or we’re shooting you down”
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u/Icy-Negotiation194 13h ago
How is the only anti-venom located across the entire country?
I know the answer, but I wanna hear yours.
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u/B-33-r 12h ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/3oKHWspJ9dRB1DSQIE
The pilot making sure he never goes off course
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u/Yiplzuse 11h ago
All of the Bin Laden family members in the US were allowed to charter a flight out of the US. This was ok’d by Bush. It was thought they might be in danger from people who knew who they were.
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u/RuleMany2900 10h ago
Poor man survived but had to pay jet fuel for the jet and two fights as a part of his medical bills?
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u/Dry_Statistician_688 9h ago
There were MANY flights doing emergency medical sorties given exceptions this day. They simply had to contact center and get special clearances.
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u/R4nd0mByst4nd3r 7h ago
But that was before the insurance companies got their hooks in so that was covered by his copay.
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u/No_Box_470 14h ago
It was not the only one...A plane flew a donor liver from Tennessee to Texas that day.