Cicadas don’t care about deadlines.
A press plane carrying a team of journalists to the United Kingdom for President Biden’s inaugural overseas trip was delayed seven hours after a swarm of cicadas led to a mechanical failure.
The chartered plane was set to take off around 9 p.m. Tuesday but didn’t leave Washington, DC, until after 4 a.m. Wednesday when the aircraft was swapped out.
The Washington, DC, area is one of many locales across the country grappling with an onslaught of Brood X cicadas — the noisy insects that emerge every 17 years to dive-bomb vehicles and pedestrians and cause other miscellaneous havoc, like peeing on people.
The bugs were blamed for a Cincinnati car crash Monday after one flew in a driver’s window and torpedoed a man’s face, temporarily stunning him.
The trip was delayed seven hours after a swarm of cicadas led to a mechanical failure. AP
“Watch out for the cicadas,” President Biden told reporters after having to swat one away from his neck. AP
President Biden, with a cicada on his neck, walks toward Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland. APBiden commented on the cicadas just before he took off to the UK after he swatted one from the back of his neck.
“Watch out for the cicadas,” Biden told reporters after arriving at Joint Base Andrews.
“I just got one. It just got me.”
Cicadas were blamed for a car crash in Cincinnati earlier this week. APIt’s not clear how exactly the cicadas impacted the press plane, which is paid for by journalists but arranged with the assistance of the White House.
Weather and crew issues were also factors in the delay.
With Post wires
