Airline Crews Battle Rattlesnakes Squatting in Grounded Fleet of Planes On 6/3/21 at 12:24 PM EDT The long-term storage of Qantas planes in California's Mojave Desert is creating new, unexpected hazards for engineers to tackle: rattlesnakes and scorpions have infiltrated the fleet, making their home in wheels and tires. According to a Thursday update in the Qantas News Room, protecting aircraft from invading critters like birds and insects is nothing new for engineers. But the burgeoning rattlesnake season in California has created a unique problem, forcing engineers to add "a new pre-inspection procedure" to their typical maintenance routines. The fleet, which is in "deep storage" until air travel returns to its pre-pandemic levels, is being stored in Victorville, Calif., in the Mojave Desert, because of the area's high heat and low humidity. Unfortunately, these conditions are also conducive to desert pests like rattlesnakes and scorpions.