A commercial flight from Houston to Atlanta was delayed hours due to some un-bee-lievable guests who clung onto a wing.
On Wednesday, a swarm of bees latched onto the tip of the wing of a Delta Airlines flight out of Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental. As a result, the plane was delayed for about four hours. The staff tried to hatch a plan on what to do with the hundreds of bees that had gathered, per the Daily Wire.
Journalist Anjali Enjeti was a passenger on the plane and tweeted as the incident was occurring.
“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?” she wrote in the caption of a photo she shared showcasing the slew of bees.
Enjeti asked, “Won’t they leave the wing when we take off?”
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 (@AnjaliEnjeti) May 3, 2023
Enjeti continued to give updates on the bee infestation and joked she wasn’t moving from the window because she wanted “front row (sic) seats for this!”
She also shared information provided by other passengers on how the bees got there to begin with.
“Intel from other passengers confirms the plane pulled into the gate and suddenly a mass of bees congregates on the wing,” she explained.
Later on, Enjeti gave an update on behalf of the plane’s captain.
“Bee keeper (sic) isn’t allowed to touch airplanes! So they’re not coming! 2) Pest control is not allowed to spray planes,” she wrote.
She continued to share the “airport does not have hose to spray them off with water” and the “fire department can’t come” which she couldn’t “understand reason why.”
Finally, at 3:43 p.m., after the “entire flight crew deplaned,” Enjeti revealed the bees left when the plane’s engine was turned on.
“All Delta had to do was TURN ON THE PLANE,” she exclaimed.
Mike Sexton, known as The Bee Man, told local news outlet KHOU the incident was not unusual, especially for this time of year.
“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,” he explained.