A Delta Airlines flight was delayed by several hours on Wednesday after a swarm of bees gathered on the wing of the plane, prompting the airline to delay the flight as it tried to coax the insects into flying.
The flight was initially scheduled to leave Houston at 12:25 p.m. ET today for Atlanta, but was delayed until about 4:30 p.m. due to the bee swarm, according to flight data.
“Bee or not, Delta Flight 1682 from Houston Bush to Atlanta was delayed this afternoon after a friendly group of bees wanted to speak with our wingman, no doubt about sharing the latest news of flight conditions at the airport,” a Delta spokesperson told CBS News.
A passenger on the flight tweeted about the event, from the initial spotting of bees and a hit with the event, including the idea of calling a beekeeper to remove the insects.
“My flight departing from Houston was delayed because bees have gathered on the tip of one of the wings,” wrote journalist and writer Anjali Engiti on Twitter, who also posted a photo of the wing full of bees. “They won’t let us get on the plane until they remove the bees. But how on earth is this going to happen? Won’t they leave the wing when we take off?”
However, the beekeepers were never contacted because they were not allowed to touch the plane, while pest control was not allowed to spray the plane, Engetti wrote, citing a situation update by the pilot.
“It will be one of the highlights of my life to see a beekeeper remove the wing of a plane. It will be hard to let go of this. The disappointment is real.”
At another point, she indicated that the airline had tried to blow exhaust on the squadron. “The bees were not impressed,” she wrote.
Engetti noted that some of the other passengers seemed angry at the bees’ delay. “Hope you hear people on the phone here trying to explain why our flight is delayed,” she wrote on Twitter.
Eventually, the bees shook as the plane darted back out of the gate, without any passengers on board, according to a spokesperson.
“As soon as our plane’s engine started, the bees let go!!! All Delta had to do was turn on the plane,” Engetti wrote.
A few jokers have added comments to the Engity thread.
“I’m looking forward to Samuel L Jackson adapting this whole story,” one commenter wrote, referring to 2006’s “Snakes on a Plane.”
Another joked, “Delta should offer the bees $350 to make the next flight.”
These swarms are rare but have happened before, such as on the side of an American Airlines plane out of Miami in 2017; and on the flight deck window of an Air India plane in 2019.
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