Wasps caused Qantas flight delays

"Wasp-related debris" was found in a crucial part of the planes

A wasp infestation was to blame for a spate of aborted take-offs from Brisbane, a report has said.

A total of five Qantas airline flights were affected between January and March 2006, with three of them forced to abort take-off altogether.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) said that wasps had built nests inside parts of the A330 planes while they were waiting on the runway.

Between 25 and 30 wasp nests were later removed from Brisbane airport.

Temperature rise

The report said that pilots on one flight from Brisbane to Singapore aborted take-off after noticing problems with air-speed indicators.

While the plane was taxiing away from the runway, the brake temperature rose to 685C, causing six of the eight main landing gear tyres to deflate, the ATSB said.

Smoke was seen coming from the main landing gear area and airport emergency services attended as a precautionary measure, but no one was hurt.

A check of the aircraft later found "what appeared to be wasp-related debris" in the pitot system, a part of the plane which helps to provide air-speed readings to the crew.

Inspectors suspected that wasps had impaired the pitot system in four other disrupted take-offs, although they did not find evidence of wasps on all of the planes.

The ATSB has criticised Qantas and the airport operator for having an initially "ineffective and slow" response to the wasp infestation but said that a subsequent "enhanced pest eradication program" had now brought the problem under control.