On 9/9/2011 9:12 AM, Albert Thomas wrote:
On Sep 8, 7:41 pm, Carl wrote:
Modern gliders give very little indications of a stall (another reason
why training in old clunkers like the 2-33 is counterproductive). Add
a little distraction or a higher priority task (Bee in the cockpit!)

Is a bee in the cockpit enough of a distraction or a higher priority
task than flying
the aircraft. If you think so you should reread "Fate is the Hunter".

Carl B

I have a severe reaction to bee stings. I'm pretty careful about it
and haven't been stung in over 30 years. I carried an "EpiPen" with me
to contests or anywhere where I was traveling away from prompt medical
attention. But I didn't carry it in the cockpit back then. A sting to
the neck or upper torso would probably give me an hour or less to live
without medical attention. I had a mad bee enter the cockpit while I
was at 9K feet on task at a regional contest near Colorado Springs
about 10 years ago back. It might has well been a live hand grenade in
the cockpit as far as I was concerned. I was in contact with the C/S
tower (10 miles east) and was close to calliing an inflight emergency
with request for emergency landing with standby medical attention just
before I managed to kill the bee. During that time I also considered
bailing out of the aircraft to get away from the bee. Yes, I was
flying the sailplane the whole time (not very coordinated though) but
that bee had my full attention. After that happened one of my EpiPen
is always in my car when I drive and in my aircraft when I fly.

A mad bee in the cockpit is a different kind of event for those of us
for whom a sting could be a fatal event.

Al T


In no way intending to minimize the serious realities associated with having a
known life-threatening allergy to bee/wasp stings, a mis-spent youth included
several summers catching by the wings, using index finger and thumb,
'inspecting' (just to give the activity a veneer of 'scientific
justification'), then releasing bees (and the occasional yellow jackets and -
toughest to catch - paper wasps) led to what may have been my very first
'scientific hypothesis,' to wit: stinging insects - even the barbless ones -
generally don't want to sting you as much as you don't want to be stung. (They
also don't remain angry 'too long,' bald-faced hornets having the longest
group memories in my experience.)

This came in useful the one time an agitated paper wasp entered my HP-14
cockpit via the nose air tube, an event first detected on takeoff roll as
something yellow and brown thrummed past my right ear at about 20 knots. Mama
wasp was probably assessing a potential homesite. What a great situation for
testing a youthful theory! Being a cheap (rhymes with 'dastard'), I
'instantaneously' decided that ignoring mama, in the hope she would ignore me,
was an acceptable decision (vs. pulling the plug). And so it proved to be. Key
is simply remaining still. (Hand waving - and finger-catching, too, ha ha -
definitely 'insect agitational.')

I eventually encouraged/enabled mama to exit via the canopy (no side window)
once I'd gained some altitude, and she had recovered from her startlement as
concluded by her showing continuing interest in what lay beyond the canopy.

In any event...

Fly the aircraft,
Bob W.