I was trying to get home but got swarmed!

Lovely Lakeland Linder. The home of Sun & Fun was also the site for a
Sportair workshop last week. I left a couple of hours early in order to
beat the storms back to home in Durham NC.

The last thing you want to hear when you walk into an FBO is, "You
aren't the owner of the Maule are you? Oh boy, we've been trying to
reach you. You need to talk to the manager"

Visions of runaway fuel trucks danced in my head but I was relieved to
hear that a swarm of bees had decided to take up residence on my Maule!

The previous evening after a 7:30 fueling, the line guys noticed a brown
bag hanging on one wing tip. Closer inspection showed that it was a
swarm of bees. They seemed to attracted to the red wing tips, and
within the wing tip they seemed particularly attracted to areas of
exposed primer where the Maule paint had chipped off.

The bag-o-bees apparently extended out from the tip about 4 inches and
hung down about 6. They would seemingly attack any cars or other noisy
objects approaching the aircraft. Hornet spray was deployed which
killed several hundred but the rest remained.

By the time I arrived the next morning, the bees had migrated to the
spinner and a large number were flying in and around the cowling. Fish
and Game had been contacted and calls had been made to local beekeepers
but none had answered. The story was embellished by recent killer bee
reports around Tampa.

I saw none of this. Being a bit skittish around bees, I felt no need to
verify the reports. Lakeland has a giant terminal with a restaurant. I
had decided to wait for some bee expertise.

One of the controllers in the tower (Pat) was bee knowledgeable as was a
Sportair attendee. They both said that the bees were simply on the move
and that they would probably be gone in 2 hours or 2 days. That made
sense to me so I checked back into a local motel and decided to try
again the next day.

On the ramp the next morning, all I could see is the puddle of dead bees
under the wing. I was totally convinced that they were all gone but the
FBO manager and line guys were not. They insisted on staying close
inside some vehicles while I started it up and otherwise acted as a bee
sting dummy. Everything was clear and off I went.

Now I can add bee swarms to the list of things that can delay a flight.

"Maule Driver" wrote

Now I can add bee swarms to the list of things that can delay a flight.

Bizarre story!

Bee swarms are a different animal than what Hollywood presents. All the
bees are interested in the Queen, and the Queen only. If the wingtip was
removable, you could have walked up to the plane, taken the tip off, and
walked over somewhere else and given it a sharp rap against something, and
the queen would have fallen off, and everyone would have followed her. No
protective equipment, no stings, or anything.
--
Jim in NC

Maule Driver wrote:
Visions of runaway fuel trucks danced in my head but I was relieved to
hear that a swarm of bees had decided to take up residence on my Maule!


I can recall bailing out of a C-172... twice.... at a grass strip because a wasp
flew out of the wing root air vent. Fortunately it was very early in the take
off run so I just pulled the mixture, stopped it, and ran like hell. When I
thought he was gone, I tried again. The same thing happened.

I hate those little beggars.... almost as bad as I hate mosquitos, which is my
current plague.



--
Mortimer Schnerd, RN

VE

"Mortimer Schnerd, RN" wrote

I can recall bailing out of a C-172... twice.... at a grass strip because
a wasp
flew out of the wing root air vent. Fortunately it was very early in the
take
off run so I just pulled the mixture, stopped it, and ran like hell. When
I
thought he was gone, I tried again. The same thing happened.

I hate those little beggars.... almost as bad as I hate mosquitos, which
is my
current plague.

chuckle I had to learn (when I first started in construction) that
falling off a ladder to get away from wasps, is a good, sure way to get hurt
way worse than a sting. It is a hard lesson to remember, when one (or
several) is buzzing around, after your blood! Also a good thing to remember
while in an airplane! g

Remember the distinction that the bees were on the *outside* of the
airplane.
--
Jim in NC

was a Sportair attendee. They both said that the bees were simply on
the move and that they would probably be gone in 2 hours or 2 days. That
made sense to me so I checked back into a local motel and
decided to try again the next day.

"Un-bee-leave-able"?

JohnH wrote:
was a Sportair attendee. They both said that the bees were simply on
the move and that they would probably be gone in 2 hours or 2 days. That
made sense to me so I checked back into a local motel and
decided to try again the next day.

"Un-bee-leave-able"?


That has to bee the worst pun ever.



--
Mortimer Schnerd, RN

VE

("Maule Driver" wrote)
[snip]
The bag-o-bees apparently extended out from the tip about 4 inches and
hung down about 6. They would seemingly attack any cars or other noisy
objects approaching the aircraft. Hornet spray was deployed which
killed several hundred but the rest remained.

By the time I arrived the next morning, the bees had migrated to the
spinner and a large number were flying in and around the cowling. Fish
and Game had been contacted and calls had been made to local beekeepers
but none had answered. The story was embellished by recent killer bee
reports around Tampa.


Next time call me!!

1. Climb into your VW Beetle/Maule ...whatever.
2. Taxi it inside the New Orleans Superdome.
3. Turn the building's AC to the "Very Cool" setting.
4. Watch the Giant Jumbotron for the temp to drop to 45F.
5. Wait for bees to go dormant.

http://www.agonybooth.com/extras/savage_bees/
Savage Bees (TV- 1976) ......great review g
(Page 5 and 6 contain your problem's solution)


Montblack

Morgans wrote:

Bee swarms are a different animal than what Hollywood presents. All
the bees are interested in the Queen, and the Queen only. If the
wingtip was removable, you could have walked up to the plane, taken
the tip off, and walked over somewhere else and given it a sharp rap
against something, and the queen would have fallen off, and everyone
would have followed her. No protective equipment, no stings, or
anything.

Intellectually, I know and believe that. Emotionally, I was unable to
even get near the plane in a sealed car until I was convinced the queen
and her court had left. But knowing how they operate was the only thing
that allowed me to get in and fire it up despite the FBO's staff belief
that some must still remain in my ventilation system waiting to sting me.

"Mortimer Schnerd, RN" wrote in message
om...

I can recall bailing out of a C-172... twice.... at a grass strip because
a wasp flew out of the wing root air vent. Fortunately it was very early
in the take off run so I just pulled the mixture, stopped it, and ran like
hell. When I thought he was gone, I tried again. The same thing
happened.


I have a friend with a life-threatening allergy to wasp stings. He once
nearly killed himself in a truck when a wasp got into the cab and he
immediately forgot that he was driving while attending to this new threat.

I often wondered if there are any pilots with this condition. It always
seemed to me that it would be fairly common for wasps to get into those 70's
Cessna cockpits.

Montblack wrote:

4. Watch the Giant Jumbotron for the temp to drop to 45F.
5. Wait for bees to go dormant.

I once discovered just after takeoff that a bee was inside the plane
with me, so I figgured I was probably in for getting stung and just
simply accepted the possibility of a sting and instead paid full
attention to my flying. After climbing to 9500MSL I noticed the bee had
passed out on the back seat and stayed dormant for the entire 3 hour
flight home. After I landed and was getting my stuff out of the plane,
the bee finally aroused and flew out the door. Apparently the rapid
change in altitude from near sea level to 9.5K had a physiological
effect on the bee that put it out for a while. I just wonder if the bee
ever made it back home :-)