Allegiant MD82 at Las Vegas on Apr 14th 2014, bee strike

An Allegiant Airlines McDonnell Douglas MD-82, registration N407NV performing flight G3-448 from Las Vegas,NV to Duluth,MN (USA) with 160 people on board, was climbing out of Las Vegas' runway 07L when upon contacting departure the crew reported hitting a bird and requested vectors, they needed to monitor and check their gauges. The aircraft stopped the climb at 10,000 feet. After about 7 minutes, after consulting with dispatch, the crew decided to return to Las Vegas and advised they were doing an overweight landing and needed the longest runway available, runway 07L was assigned for the landing (runways 01 were active for landings). The crew advised they were on normal operations, had the airfield in sight and were cleared for a visual approach to runway 07L. The aircraft landed safely on runway 07L about 25 minutes after departure, vacated the runway and stopped on the adjacent taxiway for an inspection by emergency services.

A post flight inspection revealed that the aircraft had flown through a swarm of bees with a large quantity of bees impacting and obscuring the windshield and parts of the swarm being ingested into the engines.

Passengers reported a burning smell developed in the cabin when the aircraft climbedo ut.

A replacement MD-82 reached Duluth with a delay of 2:15 hours.

The airline confirmed bees clouded the windshield and were ingested into the engines.