Writer Anjali Enjeti was recently scheduled to fly from Houston to Atlanta when her Delta flight was delayed for a novel reason: there was a swarm of bees on one of the wings of the plane. She tweeted the adventure, which is, as appropriate from a professional novelist, worth a complete read.
The swarm was spotted before the passengers boarded, which is fortunate because a resolution to this saga took a long time. Enjeti watched and photographed events from a terminal window. Airport personnel considered hosing off the bees. They also summoned a beekeeper and a pest control expert, neither of whom were allowed to remove the pests.
They also tried to blow the bees off which vehicle exhaust. The bees stayed in place. So the airline decided to give the departure gate to another plane and move this plane. When the flight crew turned on the engine to move the plane, the bees left.
This delay caused a lot of problems for passengers. If the airport officials had simply summoned Samuel L. Jackson, they plane might have left on time.
-via Super Punch