Video of bat that swooped through Delta plane cabin on flight to Atlanta

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People laughed at the plot for the Samuel L. Jackson thriller Snakes on a Plane, in which poisonous serpents are let loose on a flight to Los Angeles.But nobody is laughing now, not after a bat was filmed swooping through a cabin on a Delta Airlines flight in America, causing panic and eventually forcing the pilot to return to the departure airport.A passenger managed to catch the animal flying over people's heads after the flight took off from Madison in Wisconsin to Atlanta, Georgia.Scroll down for video

Winging it: The trapped bat makes the first of its four trips up the cabin aisle The unidentified passenger managed to capture the footage and posted it to CNN's iReport, the news network's forum for members of the public to publish their own news.He described how he was asleep when a 'flying animal' that he believes was a bat started moving through the cabin.

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He said: 'I woke up to a small scream and then I saw the bat fly over my head. 'I grabbed my phone to get some video as my friends would never believe this.

So close, but so far: At this point the bat flies near the bathroom door before turning around and flying up the aisle again'It went up and down the aisle about four to five times before being trapped in the back lavatory.'While the bat was getting accustomed to his tiny new space, the flight returned to Madison.The iReporter, username ms010154, checked back in with CNN as he sat on his newly rebooked flight to let them know he ! was on h is way again.In the video you can clearly see the stricken bat looking for a way out as it flaps its way up and down the aisle.
At one point it appears to dive bomb one passenger.

Flying menace: Passengers scream as the bat flies close to their headsThen, as if by magic, it flies straight into the bathroom, upon which one passenger quickly closes the door to the collective sighs of relief and a few thumbs up. Jarek Beem, a spokesperson for Delta Connections partner Atlantic Southeast Airlines, confirmed that flight 5121 did in fact return to Madison after a 'flying animal' was reported in the cabin.The plane was searched fully before flying out again. Mr Beem said: 'We were not able to confirm if it was a bird or a bat.'Bottom line is the flight did return to Madison so the aircraft could be searched and it was after that search that it was able to return to Atlanta.'