A swarm of bees gathered on the wing of a Delta Air Lines flight on Wednesday, forcing the airline to postpone the flight while it tried to persuade the insects to buzz off, causing the flight to be delayed for several hours.
According to flight data, the flight was originally scheduled to depart Houston for Atlanta at 12:25 p.m. Eastern time today, but the bee swarm caused it to be delayed until around 4:30 p.m.
“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, doubtlessly to share the latest about flying conditions at the airport,” a Delta spokesperson told CBS News.
A passenger on the flight tweeted about the event, from the initial discovery of the bees and a blow-by-blow of the event, including the idea of calling a bee keeper to remove the insects.
“My flight leaving Houston is delayed because bees have congregated on the tip of one of the wings,” wrote Anjali Enjeti, a journalist and author, on Twitter, who also posted a photo of the bee-swarmed wing. “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?
