SOUTHHAMPTON, UK — (CNN) Here’s an incident that’s creating some buzz: a plane traveling from the UK to Ireland was forced to turn back because of a bee.
The Turboprop aircraft operated by budget carrier Flybe (and yes, that’s pronounced Fly-bee!) landed safely back at Southampton after aborting its flight to Dublin following problems caused by the insect.
Last Friday’s incident involving flight BE384 resulted in a two-hour delay for passengers.
“Flybe can confirm that flight BE384 traveling to Dublin returned from airborne to Southampton following a suspected technical issue,” the airline said in a statement. “The aircraft landed without incident and all passengers disembarked as normal.
“Upon inspection, Flybe engineers did discover that the cause of the issue was a bee that had become lodged in an item of instrumentation on the outside of the aircraft.
“The safety of its passengers and crew is the airline’s number one priority and Flybe regrets any inconvenience experienced as a result of the delay to this flight.”
Insects have been blamed for more serious aviation incidents in the past. A 1996 Boeing 757-225 crash that killed 189 people in the Dominican Republic was blamed by investigators on a wasp nest inside crucial instrumentation.
Flybe hit the headlines last year when one of its pilots made a “heavy landing” after his false arm became detached while performing a maneuver.
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