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

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.

Maule Driver wrote:
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.

I'd have to say it depends a lot on what part of the country you're
in. Here in Central AZ, most wild bee colonies are africanized. If
you try Morgans trick on one of their swarms you're likely to end up in
a hospital for a few days. Morgans is correct that all the bees are
interested in is the queen, but for an africanized colony, they're
mostly interested in protecting the queen with their lives while
enroute to a new hive. You don't even have to be bothering them.
Just being within 50 ft. of an africanized colony on the move will make
you a target. They're not the stuff of the 70s movies, but they do
command a great deal more caution and respect than european bee swarms.

John Galban=====N4BQ (PA28-180)

"John Galban" wrote in message
ups.com...


Maule Driver wrote:
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.

I'd have to say it depends a lot on what part of the country you're
in. Here in Central AZ, most wild bee colonies are africanized. If
you try Morgans trick on one of their swarms you're likely to end up in
a hospital for a few days. Morgans is correct that all the bees are
interested in is the queen, but for an africanized colony, they're
mostly interested in protecting the queen with their lives while
enroute to a new hive. You don't even have to be bothering them.
Just being within 50 ft. of an africanized colony on the move will make
you a target. They're not the stuff of the 70s movies, but they do
command a great deal more caution and respect than european bee swarms.

John Galban=====N4BQ (PA28-180)



Yeah, the africanized bees are a bit on the scary side. Place i used to
hunt at in Texas had an old farm house we used as our deer cabin, had a nice
large colony of bees in between some of the walls of the old house, but they
never bothered us, assumed they were the nice and gentle mannered eurobees.
Within a few weeks that changed drastically. I was minding my own business
outside, nowhere near the entrance to the nesting area, and doing nothing
threatening when i got stung on the forehead.... didn't take long before a
rather large group of them was headed my way.... nedless to say I hauled ass
and got away with only that one sting. Dad and I decided to go ahead and
pull out of the house and tentcamp in a different area, and as we are
pulling out my dad gets hit, and as he's running my way there are at least
40 bees circling his head, he got hit twice. They are kind of a double
doozie... they are quite agressive... Carbon dioxide is a threat scent for
them, so they seem to get ****ed off for us and other critters to simply
breathe in a manner that they can smell it. Second is the sting, the
phermone emmited by the venom is a like a "Sting here! GOD SAVE THE QUEEN!"
sign, and although eorubees have this same phermone, it is not anywhere near
as strong as the afrobees. That aside they can be fairly easy to escape
from, a good run away trick works wonders, they don't really seem to chase
as far as the "Killer Bee" scare tends to portray, in my case a good 50
yards and I was in the clear. If I was to see a bee-ball on an aircraft i
was flying, I would be quite disenclined to commit to aviation that day,
especially out here in central AZ where you are just as likely to stumble on
afrobees as eurobees. I really don't want to take that chance. If they
seem to want to hang around call the ag extension office, see what they
suggest, if anything, besides waiting them out. I would only hit the
chemical warefare tactic IF i had good protection, full bee suit etc.

Well, the afro/euro bee thing was what everyone was concerned about in
this case. There apparently were several stories in Tampa about an afro
bee invasion. The line crew said the bees starting hitting the car
whenever it got close. They also said that when they started to close a
nearby hangar door, the bees collected there.

Like I said, I stayed at the FBO desk and the restaurant. Personally, I
don't discriminate and try to stay away from both Afro and Euro types.

Mauledriver, aka Bill Watson, aka Foureyes

nooneimportant wrote:
"John Galban" wrote in message

Yeah, the africanized bees are a bit on the scary side. Place i used to
hunt at in Texas had an old farm house we used as our deer cabin, had a nice
large colony of bees in between some of the walls of the old house, but they
never bothered us, assumed they were the nice and gentle mannered eurobees.
Within a few weeks that changed drastically. I was minding my own business
outside, nowhere near the entrance to the nesting area, and doing nothing
threatening when i got stung on the forehead.... didn't take long before a
rather large group of them was headed my way.... nedless to say I hauled ass
and got away with only that one sting. Dad and I decided to go ahead and
pull out of the house and tentcamp in a different area, and as we are
pulling out my dad gets hit, and as he's running my way there are at least
40 bees circling his head, he got hit twice. They are kind of a double
doozie... they are quite agressive... Carbon dioxide is a threat scent for
them, so they seem to get ****ed off for us and other critters to simply
breathe in a manner that they can smell it. Second is the sting, the
phermone emmited by the venom is a like a "Sting here! GOD SAVE THE QUEEN!"
sign, and although eorubees have this same phermone, it is not anywhere near
as strong as the afrobees. That aside they can be fairly easy to escape
from, a good run away trick works wonders, they don't really seem to chase
as far as the "Killer Bee" scare tends to portray, in my case a good 50
yards and I was in the clear. If I was to see a bee-ball on an aircraft i
was flying, I would be quite disenclined to commit to aviation that day,
especially out here in central AZ where you are just as likely to stumble on
afrobees as eurobees. I really don't want to take that chance. If they
seem to want to hang around call the ag extension office, see what they
suggest, if anything, besides waiting them out. I would only hit the
chemical warefare tactic IF i had good protection, full bee suit etc.

"John Galban" wrote

Here in Central AZ, most wild bee colonies are africanized. If
you try Morgans trick on one of their swarms you're likely to end up in
a hospital for a few days.

You are correct; I am talking about non africanized swarms.

I was not aware that the African bee problem had advanced so far. Wow.
--
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

"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.