Bees swarm airplane wing, delay flight in bizarre incident

Bees on a plane wing delayed a Delta flight by three hours (Image credit: @AnjaliEnjeti/Twitter)

A Delta flight from Texas to Atlanta was delayed by three hours when a swarm of bees descended upon the plane’s wing. A passenger who was supposed to be on the Wednesday afternoon flight tweeted a blow-by-blow account of the bizarre incident and the airline’s various attempts to get rid of the buzzing invaders.

Anjali Enjeti, a journalist, tweeted that Delta Air Lines held off boarding for all passengers on the 12.25 pm flight from Houston because a swarm of bees had descended upon one of the aircraft’s wings. The bees suddenly congregated on the wing as the plane pulled into the gate, she revealed.

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

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— Anjali Enjeti (she/her) (@AnjaliEnjeti) May 3, 2023

The airline, apparently, did not believe that the bees would fly away once the aircraft would take off and instead weighed several options – including pest control and calling a beekeeper.

Enjeti shared pics of puzzled ground staff examining the bee invasion. Eventually, the captain of the flight told waiting passengers that the beekeepers would not be allowed to touch the airplane, so they would not be coming. Pest control was ruled out for similar reasons – they would not be allowed to spray the aircraft.

“Airport does not have hose to spray them off with water! [And] fire department can’t come — can’t understand reason why,” she wrote.

Airport personnel: What the F? pic.twitter.com/TAu89xE4gK

— Anjali Enjeti (she/her) (@AnjaliEnjeti) May 3, 2023

Blowing exhaust from a Delta vehicle on the wing was one tactic the airline tried. It was unsuccessful – as was the attempt to use a hose which was aborted before it even began.

The bees were finally removed when ground equipment was used to push the plane, a Delta spokesperson told Business Insider.

“Bee-lieve it or not, Delta flight 1682 from Houston-Bush to Atlanta took a delay this 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 in a statement.

Bees removed, the 12.25 pm flight finally took off at around 4.30 pm after a delay of three hours.