A swarm of migrating honeybees gathered last Wednesday on the wing of a Delta Connection commuter jet from Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT) to JFK in New York, operating as Flight DL-6202, causing about a 47 minute delay until the protected insects could be safely removed, as reported on Friday, August 3, 2012 by ABC News, the Daily Mail, NYC Aviation, and other media sources.
It was at least the fourth incident this year that nesting bees had to be removed from a parked plane at the airport. Stephen Repasky, a professional beekeeper with Meadow Sweet Apiaries used a soft bristle brush and his bare hands to gently sweep the docile creatures into containers for later release. He reported that only one of his assistants received a sting.
The bees settled on the aircraft, a Bombardier CRJ700 Regional Jet operated for Delta by GoJet Airlines (G7), as the plane was being refueled, as seen in the attached photo which accompanies this report.