Wasp in cockpit solutions
Posted by Firm_Performer_3439@reddit | flying | View on Reddit | 44 comments
I have recently moved to a new airport for skydiving operations and twice in the past few weeks I’ve ended up with a wasp in the cockpit. I haven’t been stung since I was a kid but I definitely had an allergy as a kid. Twice in such a short amount of time to me indicates that this may be a recurring problem throughout the skydiving season. Any suggestions?
T-1A_pilot@reddit
Find out his ratings, to determine if you need to split the time with him. Also consider using him as a safety pilot for IFD training later.
...what, he clearly knows how to fly....
Ban_DeezNts@reddit
If he’s not rated, start charging him for dual instruction now. The Hobbs is running and he’s probably got deep pockets. You have to make a living.
HeadAche2012@reddit
Add some ground time in there too, you know, he was probably in there when you were getting fuel
dodexahedron@reddit
Just to be safe, we should mention that if this is in fact part 91 and you're not a CFI, be sure you only collect pro rata share for the flight and that you have common purpose.
FinbarJG@reddit
No, flies fly, wasps... well they wasp.
ConditionLevers1050@reddit
Probably a she unless they're a solitary species, worker wasps are always female.
dodexahedron@reddit
That sure does change the demographic statistics for pylotes.
T-1A_pilot@reddit
I stand corrected.
...who says Reddit isn't educational!! 😄
Sinorm@reddit
Keep a hat or swatter in the plane and smash it on site. Otherwise ignore it until you land, they generally don’t sting you if you aren’t attacking them.
I’ve had hornets in my cockpit twice, they somehow always stay hidden until I’m in the takeoff roll. Once I did a lap in the pattern, landed, and opened the door until the guest flew away. Another time I used a hat and just smashed the stupid thing.
GrouchyHippopotamus@reddit
Sectionals are great for this. They don't even have to be current.
HuckleberryOk8136@reddit
I was visiting a new town, out of state, and rented a car. I felt like this new state was just a haven for hornets, they were everywhere I went.
Literally, a nest in the grill area of the car.
cazzipropri@reddit
Aviate Navigate Exterminate
dodexahedron@reddit
Almost.
But my instructor taught it to me as
His arm looked like a toilet plunger and he only had one eye. Weird guy.
cazzipropri@reddit
... and a SODA.
ResponsibilityOld164@reddit
Yeah I remember right before I got my private feeling something in my hair, grabbing it, and pulling away a wasp in my hand. We had the cabin vents open though and he was sleepy from the cold air. My CFI was allergic so.. he was pretty quickly smashed into the clapped Cessna’s rudder pedals. Rip
jet-setting@reddit
Make sure there’s not a small nest in the air vents or something.
aHipShrimp@reddit
When I was a kid we had a nest of European hornets in the wall. Exterminator sprayed and boy did it piss them off. They went into the attic and I could hear them frantically pinging on the HVAC vents.
Ended up being uneventful and they all died but I had nightmares for years of wasps pouring out of HVAC vents.
Flimsy-Ad-858@reddit
Yeah I was gonna say I wonder if I'd be able to sleep in that house afterwards
minfremi@reddit
Show it that you’re harmless. Then it won’t attack you. Probably.
OrganicBenzene@reddit
Not a solution, but you should definitely have an epinephrine autoinjector (EpiPen, etc) accessible in the cockpit. Some people even have it as a limitation on their medical
dark_troy_10@reddit
This was my first thought as well.
SundogZeus@reddit
When I worked in the north and in an unpressurized aircraft, I always used to take a length of surgical tubing with me for just this purpose… take one end and stick it a little bit out of the storm window and then use the other end to vacuum up any nasty bugs easily
ActualImprovement279@reddit
You gotta fly WITH the fear
SMELLYJELLY72@reddit
and there ain’t nothing more goddamn frightening than flying with a live hornet in the plane
Pileopilot@reddit
Apparently you’ve never gone out in public with my mother. Ugh.
Popular_Hovercraft24@reddit
If a wasp ends up in my RV, and I give it a light swap, it flys right back out the way it got in, unless it’s injured. House flies on the other hand… 😆
DeadMonk03@reddit
Open window. High pressure low pressure, massive airflow, wasp is weak.
SSMDive@reddit
Will not work. I fly jump planes with a big ass door missing and the air mainly comes in, not out.
Ban_DeezNts@reddit
This guy Bernoullis!
Goop290@reddit
I told tower to get me to parking fast! Thus was at ksea
SRM_Thornfoot@reddit
Since you are allergic and it has happened twice, I would hang a wasp trap in the cabin.
soulscratch@reddit
Open the door
SMELLYJELLY72@reddit
open na noor
pronghornpilot@reddit
I fly tow planes and gliders that live outside. Wasps, bees, and spiders are a part of the operation. That’s one of the reasons we wear gloves. It increases your chances of a successful, injury-free, splat.
f1racer328@reddit
Open a window if you can. Not sure what you’re flying.
Firm_Performer_3439@reddit (OP)
182
SSMDive@reddit
Make sure when you leave the plane for the day that all vents are closed. To the point of finding foam and making air dams to prevent them from easy access.
Inspect the plane to make sure they have not made a nest.
Other than that, carry like someone else suggests one of those electric tennis racket things (works for skydivers as well).
Opening a door will not work. The flow is mostly inwards, not out.
Firm_Performer_3439@reddit (OP)
Yeah I discovered the door didn’t work with the first one
MarthaKingsButtplug@reddit
That's what the parachute is for!
Content-Patient-3664@reddit
Electric tennis racket
Whole-Party8834@reddit
Kill them? Find their home and spray it with weed killer?
Antique-Kitchen-1896@reddit
If the plane is stored outside expect wasps. There could even be a nest on the structure.
They tend to settle down once you are a few thousand up.
You could always wear a bee keepers suit?
Prefect_99@reddit
Fire. Have a smoke.
rFlyingTower@reddit
This is a copy of the original post body for posterity:
I have recently moved to a new airport for skydiving operations and twice in the past few weeks I’ve ended up with a wasp in the cockpit. I haven’t been stung since I was a kid but I definitely had an allergy as a kid. Twice in such a short amount of time to me indicates that this may be a recurring problem throughout the skydiving season. Any suggestions?
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