Bees ‘ambush’ Agartala-bound plane in Kolkata, force 90 minutes delay

KOLKATA: “To bee or not to bee” — that was the question confronting pilots seated at the cockpit of an Air India flight as they prepared to take off for Agartala from Kolkata on Sunday morning. It was no existential crisis, only a question of basic safety: a swarm of honeybees had taken over the left cockpit glass, obstructing their vision.
After initial attempts failed, they quickly realised they needed a backup plan: A ‘Plan Bee’.The plane — with 136 passengers on board, including Bangladesh information minister Hasan Mahmud and his wife — could fly only after a more-than-hour-long operation, involving the combined might of the CISF and the fire brigade.
Air India flight AI 743 to Agartala was already delayed by nearly an hour and a half when it taxied to the runway for take-off at 11.13am. The ‘ambush’ took place just when the aircraft was about to enter the runway. Within seconds, thousands of bees landed on the cockpit glass, partially blinding the pilots’ vision.
Attempts to use the windshield wiper didn’t help, as even more bees flew in and perched on the windshield.
Water canon drives away bees
The pilots realised that taking off with the bees blocking the view wasn’t an option. The captain radioed air traffic control, which directed the plane to bay No. 16 and alerted fire and ambulance services. A CISF quick response team — armed with semi-automatic weapons — also rushed in, although the personnel were aware that their firepower was no match to the bees’ sting.
Ultimately, it was the fire brigade that managed to dislodge them with a carefully aimed water cannon. But it wasn’t easy. Driven away by the water jet, the bees kept returning to the windshield, as though it were laced with honey. When the bees had finally been driven away after an hour-long operation, the plane began rolling again. The flight finally departed at 12.56pm.
Senior pilots and airline officials said no aircraft is allowed to take off if it has a swarm of insects on the cockpit glass. “First, the swarm hampers pilots’ visibility. Secondly, each aircraft has several small probes, which determine the static pressure and the total pressure of an airflow located in the vicinity of the aircraft. These are extremely sensitive, and even if one bee goes inside the probe, the air speed indicators can go wrong, leading to a major accident,” said a veteran pilot.
Kolkata airport authorities said they would scour the area. “After Sunday’s incident, we have inspected the area for possible bee-nesting zones but failed to spot any. We will seek the state forest department’s help,” said airport director Kaushik Bhattacharjee.