[RudiGreyling]

This is what I have found coming back from our African Adventure Trip with the airplane standing outside for just one day. A swarm of "African Killer Bees" decided to make nest on my canopy cover strap just underneath the cowl. Their swarm was the size of a 2 liter plastic soda bottle.

It got me wondering, what funny experiences have you had with your airplane standing outside?

A Closer Look

PS: The whole trip and photos are over here if you are interested:
http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?t=42250

Kind Regards
Rudi

 

[pierre smith]

What a view......

......of the mountains! Where are they in relation to The Valley of a thousand hills, Rudi?

Makes me want to go back and visit you and my birthplace, Kempton Park!

Thanks,

 

[339A]

WOW!!

That's a "funny experience" I don't EVER want to see Killer bees at that. Other than a wet airplane with radios that wouldn't work we have been pretty lucky compared to you guys.

Curious how did you remove it and how many made it into the cabin? No fun flying with a killer bee buzzing your head.

 

[rv72004]

......of the mountains! Where are they in relation to The Valley of a thousand hills, Rudi?

Makes me want to go back and visit you and my birthplace, Kempton Park!

Thanks,

I think youre a lot safer in Georgia than Kempton park. Having said that, the beauty of African wilderness is like no other place on earth.

 

[apatti]

I just read a story in a recent issue of Flying magazine about an Atlanta pilot who was flying some friends down to Florida. Somewhere over south Georgia, they turned on the cabin heat. A few moments later a 4 foot long Copperhead snake (very poisonous) slithered out from atop the glare shield. They had to sit very still and let it crawl around on them for a while before the left seat passenger was able to grab it and hold on. No one was injured. I got the heebee geebees just reading the story.

 

[apatti]

On another related note...

My father taught me a safe technique for getting rid of wasps nests that will work in a situation like this (assuming you had the time and materials). Pour some paint thinner into an open container and slide it up under the nest. After a little while the bees (or wasps) will just start dropping off.

 

[Jamie]

Rudi: You should have filmed this. I would have loved to see how fast you can run!

 

[RudiGreyling]

Hi Guys, thought you would enjoy it...

......of the mountains! Where are they in relation to The Valley of a thousand hills, Rudi?

Makes me want to go back and visit you and my birthplace, Kempton Park!

Thanks,

Hi Pierre,

Those Mountians I flew in the last trip is in the Easter Transvaal, i.e. N East of South Africa. The Valley of a 1000 hills is in Kwazulu Natal provence, close to Durban i.e. to the East Coast of South Africa.

Regards
Rudi

 

[qtrmiledan]

Safe wasp/ bee killer

Try this- Mix some soapy water- use dawn or ivory liquid- make it fairly strong- about 1 cup/ gallon of water- splash it on them- works like gasoline on them, but won't hurt paint, siding, plastic, etc. I didn't believe it either until I tried it!

 

[BikePilot]

That's wild!

I read the copperhead snake report too. Great story. FYI a copperhead isn't terriably dangerous, even without treatment is said to be non-leathal to humans over 80lbs and they tend to be very non-aggressive. I wouldn't want one to come visit me while flying though!

 

[LarsonAero]

I'd have probably burned my plane up.....When it comes to snakes, spiders, and bees.....I'm a "Kill it with FIRE!" kind of guy.


Oh, man.....very brave.

Beautiful pics, thanks for sharing!

 

[stanman]

re bees...and kreepy things...

just read that four pythons got loose in the baggage hold of a quantas jet.. out of central australia......only babies...bound for zoo or some such....couldn't find them...so had to fumigate the a/c..to hopefully kill them....!!rgds..stanRV8

 

[flion]

Snakes on a plane!

 

[Rockyjs]

Not exactly located in my plane, but!

The below photo was taken during construction of my RV-7. One morning I had just arrived at the hangar and went to my toolbox. The night before I had left a drawer in the "middle" cabinet slightly open and when I attempted to open the drawer below, the one above opened with it. Something was hung up and I shook the lower draw to try and dislodge the interference to no avail. I reached into the draw and grabbed hold of something soft that moved. I hate snakes! I saw it briefly go over the back edge of the drawer and I pinned it in the cabinet by closing all of the drawers. I solicited the help of some of my neighbors to help with containment and when I eventually removed the drawer we saw what appeared to be a good sized water Moccasin in the back of my black Craftsman toolbox. My neighbor quickly pinned it with a long knife ultimately inflicting lethal damage. It turned out to be about a 40" non-poisonous Rat snake. Needless to say I try not to leave anything open in the shop anymore.