Flybe flight grounded by bee on Southampton to Dublin journey

The Flybe plane (not pictured) turned back to Southampton Airport shortly after taking off

A plane operated by airline Flybe was forced to turn back after a bee became stuck in one of its instruments.

Passengers on flight BE384 from Southampton to Dublin faced a two-hour delay after the journey was abandoned shortly after take-off on Saturday.

Noel Rooney, who was on board, described the insect's appearance on one of the aptly-named firm's aircraft as "unbeelievable".

The company said engineers found the bee lodged in an outside instrument.

A "suspected technical issue" led the pilot to return to Southampton Airport, where the plane landed "without incident," a spokeswoman added.

Mr Rooney tweeted:"Well, that's not happened to me before. A bumble bee got stuck in the wind instrument thingie on #flyBe. Yep, that FlyBEE."

He tweeted again upon his return journey, and joked: "About to go to airport to board @flybe to Southampton. I've brought a bee in a jar as what would the odds be of two bees in a plane."

The spokeswoman said: "Flybe engineers discovered that a bee that had become lodged in an item of instrumentation on the outside of the aircraft."

The firm has apologised for any inconvenience.

Flybe apologised for the delay to passengers who were on their way to Dublin