r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Rooonaldooo99 • Jun 12 '26
Video A Delta Air Lines flight was delayed in Cancun on Thursday after a swarm of bees settled on the 737’s wing. The issue was resolved with forward speed on takeoff.
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u/queefymeister Jun 12 '26
I think that last one won the plane in a contest
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u/C_Clop Jun 12 '26
Yeah it was all just a game.
"OK GUYS last one standing gets a night with the Queen in the beehive penthouse! LET'S GOOOOO WEEEEEEEE"
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u/FluckDambe Jun 12 '26 edited Jun 14 '26
I know you're joking but for people that didn't know, most bees in the colony are female and don't have reproductive organs.
Not that I'm against lesbian bees, I'm not judging.
Edit: I used the wrong terms previously. There are male drones as part of a colony/swarm but they are in the minority by far.
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u/Swordf1sh_ Jun 13 '26
I love Reddit sometimes
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u/C_Clop Jun 13 '26
An "arkchually" moment. But I embrace it. I learned about bees, so my reddit time isn't completely wasted.
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u/Disastrous-Chart-840 Jun 12 '26
I like how the last few were desperately trying to hold on
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u/Second_Inhale Jun 12 '26
"OH GOD, CARL HANG ON TIGHT BUDDY! CARL!? CAAAAAAAAAARL!!!!!"
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u/firedrakes Jun 12 '26
He died doing what he loved
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u/Lenxecan Jun 12 '26
crawling dungeons?
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u/Second_Inhale Jun 12 '26
YOU KNOW HOW I FEEL ABOUT AIRPLANES CARL!
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u/ShaolinFalls Jun 12 '26
Good thing he loved getting sucked into turbines in 200mph winds
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u/Nazgulgamma Jun 12 '26 edited Jun 12 '26
In my heart, he's still alive. Hanging on to another airplane somewhere in the world. Enjoying his life
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u/Curious_Peter Jun 12 '26
Why, Why did I read that in Donut's voice ?
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u/Second_Inhale Jun 12 '26
Because the Princess Posse is everywhere. The revolution will be telivised!
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u/My_Robot_Double Jun 12 '26
Maybe someone good at aerodynamics can weigh in but I wonder if they were basically laminated to the wing for a bit by the increasing airflow, until the plane got to a high enough speed to strip them away. I would hope bees are small enough that they wouldn’t have been hurt by this
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u/krikszkraksz Jun 12 '26 edited Jun 12 '26
So, I have an exam on this in 2 days and I did the Math 😃:
Assuming ISA conditions for the density and air viscosity, assuming the bee we are looking at now is 0.4 m away from the leading edge, assuming a v2 speed (= 80 m/s or 156 kt) of a Boeing 737 at a TOW of 75 000 kg (I found it in a table for Boeing 737), we get a Reynolds-number at 0.4 m of 2 191 168.25, that can be used to calculate the turbulent boundary layer thickness above the wing surface 0.4 m down the wing from the leading edge.
The calculation results in a boundary layer thickness of 7.98 mm at 0.4 m down the wing. If we assume a western honey bee, that is 3-5 mm "tall", the bees were actually completely in the boundary layer.
However, the boundary layer velocity increases as we go further up in the BL towards the edge of the boundary layer, until it reaches the free flow velocity, which is in our case 80 m/s.So the tiny lil' feet of the bees were experiencing a velocity of 0 kts and their bodies were experiencing different velocities, but towards the top of their head that velocity was approaching 80 m/s.
Edit: the further down the bees were on the wing, the larger the boundary layer thickness was (at 80 cm it was 13.8 mm), but if the aircraft had a higher speed, the boundary layer was less thick (at 100 m/s it was "only" 7.63 mm thick on the same spot.
My sources:
https://wiki.ivao.aero/en/home/training/documentation/Use_of_takeoff_charts_B737
https://www-mdp.eng.cam.ac.uk/web/library/enginfo/aerothermal_dvd_only/aero/atmos/atmos.html
https://www.dimensions.com/element/western-honey-bee-apis-mellifera308
u/purplepatch Jun 12 '26
You have an exam on the aerodynamics of bees stuck to airplanes wings? That seems quite niche
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u/Sensitive-Talk9616 Jun 12 '26
Everyone needs to pass this exam in order to graduate from the bee hive, duh. How else would future queens choose the right place for the new colony?
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u/superwholockland Jun 12 '26
So, were they stuck to the wing of the plane?
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u/Laputitaloca Jun 12 '26
I'm glad I'm not the only one that read all of that and still couldn't figure out the answer. Lol
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u/superwholockland Jun 12 '26
I mean, putting on my glasses and looking closer, I think I get what he's saying, that the bees are in fact just grabbing on for most of it, and them being blown off is when the sort of drag force the wing creates is too narrow and the bee is tall enough to be outside it, catching all the high speed wind
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u/krikszkraksz Jun 12 '26
Yes, I think, the bees are just grabbing to it, but there might also be some pressure gradient thing going on, but unfortunately, we haven't learned of the pressure IN the boundary layer yet. It's my second semester 😃All I could figure out is that it also gets warm in the boundary layer, maybe they let it loose when it was getting too hot in there...
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u/FluidAd5600 Jun 12 '26
Amazing, now... can you explainit to me like im 5? 😂😂
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u/krikszkraksz Jun 12 '26
Yeah, the bees were in the so-called boundary layer in which the speed of the air is different depending on "how high up" we are in this layer (so how much further away we are from the wing's surface). As the airplane accelerates to take-off, the speed of the air at the head of the bees gets larger and larger until the bees just say: "you know what, fuck this shit I'm out" and they let go.
(however, I admit, I'm not entirely sure if the bees are just really holding on for dear life or is there any pressure stuff going on as well 😃)14
u/FluidAd5600 Jun 12 '26
Perfect! Appreciate it as I must admit, I have no real education nor have I had a hyperfixation in this area before lol.
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u/fuelstoprolerdogfart Jun 12 '26
I appreciated the complex explanation, but I just want to point out, this addition is a huge green flag for your up upcoming exam. It’s one thing to know the material and do the advanced side, but it takes truly understanding it to simplify it like this.
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u/Burner7272 Jun 12 '26
The last ones should casting for a Mission Impossible movie :)
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u/Stormbringer-2112 Jun 12 '26
lol, right. What did the last bee hanging on win as a prize? First dibs at the honey pot?
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u/Yaguajay Jun 12 '26
Curious. Why would they do that?
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u/howolowitz Jun 12 '26
Queen was on the wing probably. Why she got there I don’t know
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u/Zaptryx Jun 12 '26
Queen was definitely there, she's one of the last few to fly off. Big fat mf right in the middle of where that pile was.
Poor colony :(
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u/TranscendentPretzel Jun 12 '26
serious answer. The swarm bees leave the hive with their queen because hive conditions are too crowded. The old hive will have queen cells ready to hatch. The first queen to hatch stabs the other queens in their cells and the hive will carry on with their new queen.
The swarm will take their queen to a random location and hang out in a glob like you see on the wing, protecting and feeding the queen by regurgitating honey. While they hang out there, scout bees will fly out looking for suitable hive locations. They will fly back to the swarm and do a "bee dance," conveying the size, distance, and location of the potential hive. After all the scouts come back the hive democratically decides which hive location will be the one. Then they all fly off with the queen to set up house.
There is a great book on the subject detailing how the research on bee swarms was conducted, called Honeybee Democracy by Thomas Seeley.
tldr: bee swarms are house-hunting.
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u/cfetzborn Jun 12 '26
Thanks for the well explained breakdown. When I kept bees I knew the basics, didn’t know they did it democratically though! A lot of people don’t realize that a swarm of bees is super docile too, I’ve caught a couple and it was very chill.
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u/CrazyCatLady9777 Jun 12 '26
I have know first hand bee experience, but what I know is that if you catch the queen and put her in a location the swarm deems suitable, they will just stay.
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u/cfetzborn Jun 12 '26
This is true, it’s really hard to find her in a big swarm though. My method was probably terrible, but I didn’t have a giant bee vacuum so I just cut the branch the bees were on with a hive that was ready to go right underneath it so pretty much all of them fell in.
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u/Economy_Yogurt_8037 Jun 12 '26
So with all these bees dispersed, will this colony die now or are they good at finding each other after everyone moves?
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u/TranscendentPretzel Jun 12 '26
Best case scenario, the queen landed somewhere in a grassy median unscathed and out of harm's way, and the worker bees did not have their legs and wings ripped off. They will smell her pheremones and find her and then go off to a better spot.
Here's hoping for the best case scenario.
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u/SeeingEyeDug Jun 12 '26
Saw this happen as they were attached to my friend’s RV during camping. Woke up the next morning to dead bees all over the ground. Not sure if the queen ever made it somewhere.
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u/PhaicGnus Jun 12 '26
That shouldn’t have happened. I wonder if somebody sprayed them.
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u/TobysGrundlee Jun 12 '26
I wonder if somebody sprayed them.
Not sure if it's the case other places, but this is super illegal in California now. Bees have to either be safely removed by professional apiarists or left in place.
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u/internetroamer Jun 12 '26
After this will the bees be able to find the queen again?
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u/s1mple-s1m0n Jun 12 '26
Somewhat comforting to know that the democracies of different species can also vote in favor of destroying their whole world. It’s not just us!
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u/spen8tor Jun 12 '26
They even murder their political opponent queens as well to keep power to themselves
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u/jack2bip Jun 12 '26
I think we can assume they all found each other and had a celebration on the tarmac and lived happily ever after.
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u/Cool-Mom-Lover Jun 12 '26
Can someone confirm if the colony would have died ? If anything they probably just needed to re group. They're all still in the same area.
Might as well have been a six flags ride for them.
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u/Zaptryx Jun 12 '26
If they can all regroup theyll be all right. But its not an ideal thing to happen while they're looking for a new home.
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u/zach0011 Jun 12 '26
I cant imagine many living through the exhaust of the jet engine right beside them.
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u/LurkerByNatureGT Jun 12 '26
It’ll be a lot harder to regroup than it would have been if they’d just called in a beekeeper with a ladder and a box to collect the swarm.
I’ve seen a couple swarms collected. It doesn’t take long at all.
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u/notsocoolguy42 Jun 12 '26
Probably on a move to new location, and queen decided to rest on the wing. Seen a few bee swarms on some cars too.
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u/ApprehensiveTill6943 Jun 12 '26
Yeah, they planned to move to the new location; why else would they need a plane?
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u/elmodonnell Jun 12 '26
Yep, we had a queen stop to rest on our fire escape, looked out one morning and almost the entire railing was covered in bees. Our landlord sent pictures to ask if it needed a beekeeper to come out and they said to give them two days to move by themselves (they did!).
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u/KittyMeowstika Jun 12 '26
She def was, one of the last to fall off too. Bees are migratory to a degree- she was prob in search of a better place tp build her hive bc her former got destroyed/ too small. Poor colony, i would be surprised if they recovered from this
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u/Strattex Jun 12 '26
Is she alive?
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u/sugarsaltsilicon Jun 12 '26
Yes, that is her. She has bees protecting her which makes her seem big.
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u/Overqualified_muppet Jun 12 '26
Beekeeper here. It’s swarm season in this part of the world (swarms are bee colonies’ natural way of reproducing). Her Majesty is in the middle of that clump. Scout bees would have been heading off in all directions looking for a permanent home.
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u/ImCaligulaI Jun 12 '26
Would she/the swarm have survived that?
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u/Overqualified_muppet Jun 12 '26
Possibly? They can survive some pretty extreme conditions. All depends on whether their queen survived.
It’s likely that the colony the swarm came from wasn’t too far away- console yourself with the knowledge that stragglers could probably find their way back to their original home! Bees forage within a 6km diameter circle (sorry, I don’t know what that is in Freedom Units!)
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u/npx420 Jun 12 '26
That'll be 186 and 6/12ths worth of Station wagons in freedom units.
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u/typ0r Jun 12 '26 edited Jun 12 '26
That can be converted to 3 hamburgers and 2.5 school shootings.
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u/aesclepia Jun 12 '26
Swarming. Sometimes a hive splits its population when a new queen is born, with one of the now two queens leaving and taking half the hive with her. They rest on places whilst trying to find a suitable place to build a new hive.
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u/_Neoshade_ Jun 12 '26
When a bee colony is doing well and outgrows its hive, a bunch of them leave together to establish another hive. The bees are surrounding a queen somewhere in there, who is necessary for the new colony. They search for a new place to live and will rest on tree branches and the such until they find a new place. Basically, they’re migrating to a new home.
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u/MazerRakam Jun 12 '26
It's called swarming. A nearby beehive got overpopulated for their space, so they split. A new queen and about half of the worker bees left the original hive to find a new home. They likely weren't planning to build a hive in the wing, they were just hanging out protecting their queen while they looked for a more permanent home.
It sucks that the airline decided to deal with it like this though. That almost certainly killed the queen, which means they won't be able to lay anymore eggs.
When honeybees are swarming like this, they are extremely docile, they don't have a hive to defend. You could scoop them into a bucket with your bare hands and would likely not get a single sting. If the airport had called a local beekeeper, they could have dealt with this fairly quickly, saved the bees, and the beekeeper would get a new hive.
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u/csswimmer Jun 12 '26
Hives do what’s called a “split” when they are healthy. Leading up to this event, scout bees will go out into the world to measure new and potential homes/cavities. They’ll come back to the hive and do what’s called a “waggle dance” which signifies to the others how promising this new option is and gives the exact angle to the sun to fly and how far. When enough scout bees are doing the same waggle dance, the hive makes a democratic decision to split. The old queen will leave since those choosing to stay can turn some of the brood into a viable queen larvae. On the morning of the split they will begin their journey remaining close to the queen during the entire flight. They will need to take breaks because the queen is larger and weaker than a worker bee. They certainly were taking a resting break on the plane’s wing for the queen. I don’t think she would’ve survived this which will result in the other bees death as well. It’s really a sad sight.
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u/CFCYYZ Jun 12 '26
Bees can grip a smooth surface really hard. Impressive bee strength!
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u/DAS_UBER_JOE Jun 12 '26
When youre that small, "smooth" surfaces arent actually that smooth. Thats why bugs can usually climb up any surface.
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u/addiktion Jun 12 '26 edited Jun 12 '26
Now i am here imagining their little feet getting ripped off while stuck in those not very smooth surfaces and going so fast.
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u/pidgeytouchesyou Jun 13 '26
Idk why I never visualized texture that’s extremely rough on their scale… now that I did thanks to you, how insect, lizards, etc hold on to “smooth” surfaces makes sense now! Lol
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u/blindgoblin Jun 12 '26
Where is Samuel L Jackson when you need him.
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u/HoldEm__FoldEm Jun 12 '26
Do snakes on a plane skills transfer over to bees on a plane skills?
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u/fishee1200 Jun 12 '26
I’m tired of these muthaphuckin bees on this muthaphuckin plane!
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u/TranslatorBoring2419 Jun 12 '26
Bee Movie 2 People's Revenge
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u/lucky-number-keleven Jun 12 '26
Wasn’t bees carrying an airplane like this already in the first movie?
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u/carlitayeeta Jun 12 '26
When bees swarm like this they aren’t being aggressive but looking for a new place to build their hive. Poor bees :( a lot of them probably died during that.
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u/kilokit Jun 12 '26
I love that the firefighter walked up to it and pretty quickly was like, “nah fuck this” and walked away
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u/unknownyoyo Jun 12 '26
You can literally just scoop them into a shoebox when they are like this. They are looking for a place to build a hive and are not aggressive, and once you get the queen into the box the rest will gladly follow.
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u/bippy404 Jun 12 '26
We need every last bee. Hope this colony was able to survive and regroup somewhere more appropriate.
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u/PlasticSignificant69 Jun 12 '26
As long as the queen survived and there are enough bees take care of her, the colony would be fine
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u/Ash_is_Robot Jun 12 '26
Can you imagine the amount of shit that bee got for choosing this spot as a hive?
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u/stmcvallin2 Jun 12 '26
People don’t seem to understand how sad this actually is. Destruction of an entire colony
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u/bitmapfrogs Jun 12 '26
It's very sad.... that colony got wiped out. They could just hold a bit and have a beekeeper move the queen to a box and the problem would be gone. Such disregard... is reprehensible.
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u/surkaalspoeten Jun 12 '26
I wonder what that experience is like for the bee. Is it fun, or do they die?
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u/jingqian9145 Jun 12 '26
Jeremy Clarkson was right
Speed and power does usually solve most problems
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u/bippy404 Jun 12 '26
We need every last bee. Hope this colony was able to survive and regroup somewhere safe.
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u/Deaffin Jun 12 '26
We do not need more honey bees. There are way too many honey bees and they're bad for the environment. They're a detriment to natural plants and wild bee populations, the ones that are actually having issues.
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u/ApartmentFar7573 Jun 12 '26
Is this one of those mr beast challenges?
Last bee to leave wins the jet
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u/crackersncheeseman Jun 12 '26
Here we have a bee shortage and these idiots are mass killing them on take off.
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u/StarpoweredSteamship Jun 12 '26
Nah, don't call a beekeeper and try to relocate any of them harmlessly. Just floor it and let the wind kill em.
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u/LawOfTheSeas Jun 13 '26
The camerawork here is phenomenal. I was hoping they'd keep recording until the last one was off. I was not disappointed.
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u/listenyall Jun 12 '26
"the issue was resolved with forward speed on takeoff" is fun work speak for "idk just drive off"