A swarm of bees congregating on a wing tip kept a Delta Air Lines flight grounded for more than four hours in Houston this week.
The delay of the Houston-to-Atlanta trip was made to ensure the welfare of the bees and to ensure no critical surfaces were compromised by the insects, dead or alive.
A Twitter thread from passenger Anjali Enjeti recounted how airport officials arrived at an eventual solution.
My flight leaving Houston is delayed because bees have congregated on the tip of one of the wings. They won’t let us board until they remove the bees. But how on earth will this happen? Won’t they leave the wing when we take off? pic.twitter.com/DhodBz0m5n
— Anjali Enjeti (she/her) (@AnjaliEnjeti) May 3, 2023
Initially, a bee keeper was set to come and help remove the bees from the plane. However, for safety reasons, beekeepers were not allowed to touch the plane, nor was pest control allowed to spray the aircraft, Ms. Enjeti tweeted.
George Bush Intercontinental Airport, meanwhile, did not have a long enough hose available to spray the bees with water. Attempts to blow vehicle exhaust onto the wing tip to get the bees to leave didn’t work.
At that point, the flight crew deplaned, and Delta decided to give the gate to another plane. However, the bees left when the bee-infested aircraft’s engine was turned on and the plane pushed back from the gate.
Both the plane and the flight’s 92 passengers were moved to another gate, where they were allowed to board.
In a statement Thursday, Delta took a light tone regarding the flight’s delay.
“Bee-lieve it or not, Delta flight 1682 from Houston-Bush to Atlanta took a delay yesterday afternoon after a friendly group of bees evidently wanted to talk shop with the winglet of our airplanes, no doubt to share the latest about flying conditions at the airport,” the airline said.
The flight was delayed for four hours and 29 minutes, according to flight tracking site FlightAware.
As for the bees, their time on the wing tip may have been a pit stop on their own flights from south to north.
“Whenever bee swarms start, they’re going to gorge themselves with a bunch of honey and the old queen is going to take off with a bunch of workers so they’re not going to eat again until they actually get to a new home, so in the meantime they rest and conserve their energy, so they land on anything,” beekeeper Mike Sexton told local Houston news station KHOU-TV.
• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.