A unique incident occurred at the Austrian Innsbruck airport. An Embraer E195 aircraft of Austrian Airlines was unable to take off due to a bee blocking one of the speed sensors, reports The Aviation Herald.
The aircraft with registration number OE-LWL was operating flight OS-106 from Innsbruck to Vienna. There were 102 passengers and five crew members on board. During the takeoff roll on the runway, at a speed of about 148 km/h, the crew noticed a discrepancy in the instrument readings and decided to abort the takeoff. The plane safely reduced its speed and returned to the apron.
Passengers were informed that a possible cause of the stop was a bee that might have blocked the left Pitot tube sensor — an instrument for measuring airspeed.
The airline confirmed that the crew recorded unreliable data regarding airspeed, and the cause was indeed an insect. Because of the bee, passengers flew to Vienna on another aircraft, and the flight was delayed by about 4.5 hours.
