Travelers on an American Airlines flight out of Charlotte got a very Carolina kind of delay when a swarm of bees latched onto one of the jet’s engines and stopped the trip before it even started. Passengers filmed a man climbing a service staircase to scoop up the insects, and the flight to San Francisco did not depart until crews rounded up the swarm, a hold that lasted about an hour.
Passenger video shows beekeeper at the engine
Passenger video shared with Storyful shows a man reaching the left engine and calmly coaxing the bees into a container, one careful scoop at a time. According to Storyful, the footage was recorded by Micah McCollough Sr., who said he was aboard American Flight 1476 on Monday, March 30 when he first spotted the swarm gathering on the aircraft. ABC News also posted a clip of the bee removal as the unusual delay began making the social media rounds.
Ground crew called a beekeeper
Local television coverage and additional passenger videos show a person in full beekeeping gear placing the cluster of insects into a wooden hive box while ground crews watched from the tarmac. WSOC reported that the operation kept the flight parked at the gate for roughly an hour, while The Charlotte Observer noted a similar timeline and shared additional passenger video of the scene.
Not the first time bees have grounded a flight
This may sound like a one in a million travel story, but Charlotte Douglas has seen this movie before. In 2013, a separate swarm at the airport delayed a US Airways Express departure while crews again called in a beekeeper to relocate the insects, an episode covered by CBS News.
Airline response
American Airlines did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the bee incident, The Charlotte Observer reported. Airport officials also did not offer an immediate statement as clips of the grounded jet and its unexpected visitors spread online.
After the swarm
Once the bees were secured and removed, local outlets reported that passengers reboarded and the aircraft finally pushed back for San Francisco. Travelers captured more video from their windows as crews wrapped up the work, WSOC noted. The footage has since been picked up by national media, turning what started as a very specific Charlotte maintenance delay into a viral travel story for CLT regulars and staff alike.
