The honey bee - flight
 
  • Until about 15 years ago, scientists found it difficult to explain why bees can fly
  • However, their wings can support a cargo of pollen as well as their own weight

Recent research has revealed some of the complex mechanisms that enable bees to fly:
 
1. wing movements
  • bees flap their wings in a very complex and precise way
  • each wing beat they change the angle of the wing
  • they hover, move and turn by subtle changes to this angle
 
2. wing structure
  • bees have two sets of wings coupled together
  • they have eight sets of muscles that move these wings in the precise
    way necessary for flight
 
3. control in flight
  • bees fly on the edge of aerodynamic instability
  • they must have complex control systems to ensure they stay in the air
 
There is no evidence from the fossil record that this
complex flight system gradually developed. Insects such
as bees appear fully functional. Look at the facts and see
if you agree that they point to a creator.
 
1. Wing movements
 
The theory of the flight of aeroplanes is fairly simple compared to that of bees. Aeroplanes have fixed wings that are pushed through the air by engines. Bees do not need engines because they flap their wings. But this is not a simple action. They must move their wings up and down in a very complex manner to be able to fly.
 
Bees are able to hover, move forwards and turn. They use their wings to control these movements.
 
Basic wing movements
 
As the bee’s wings move down they also move forward (from point 1 to point 2 on the diagram on right).
 

As the wings move upward they move backward (from point 2 to point 3 on the diagram on left), this is the reverse of the downwards stroke.
 

 

The pictorial sequence on the right
shows this cycle.
 
The bee is also able to rotate its wings. The diagram below shows this.
 
(The asterisk (*) indicates the front or leading edge of the wing.)
 
The diagrams below show how the bee’s wings rotate between the up and down wing strokes that we have just looked at.
 
On the downward stroke, as the end of the wing goes from point 1 to point 2, the front or leading edge of the wing faces forwards. (The asterisk shows the leading edge.)
 
On the upward stroke, as the wing goes from point 2
to point 3, the wing faces backwards (again the
asterisk shows the leading edge). This gives lift on
the upward stroke.
So we can see that the wing flips through approximately 120° at the end of each stroke.
 
The bee performs these precise wing movements a staggering 200 times a second.
 

Slight variations in the actual angles of the wings determine whether the bee hovers, moves forwards or turns.

But there is more to honey bee flight than this! Researchers have found that bees use no less than three other principles to gain extra lift to be able to stay airborne. These effects are too complex to explain in detail.

One mechanism is called “delayed stall”. This occurs as the insect sweeps its wings forward at a high “angle of attack”, cutting through the air at a steeper angle than that of a typical aeroplane wing. A “leading edge vortex” is formed which gives additional lift.

Additional lift is also produced when the wing rotates at the end of each beat. This effect is known as “rotational circulation”.

The third mechanism to produce extra lift is called “wake capture”. As the wing moves through the air, it leaves whirlpools or vortices of air behind it. The wing is rotated before the start of the return stroke and intersects with its own wake, capturing extra uplift to keep the bee in the air.

The book 1Form and Function in the Honey Bee gives more details about these complex mechanisms.
 
To be able to fly, honey bees:
  • Move their wings forward on the downstroke
  • Move their wings backward on the upstroke
  • Rotate their wings correctly on both strokes
  • Do the above accurately 200 times a second
  • Gain extra uplift using
    o Leading edge vortices
    o Rotational circulation
    o Wake capture
 
2. Wing structure
 
Bee’s wings are thin membranes of cuticle stiffened and supported by veins, as the picture shows. Throughout the life of the bee, a chemical is moved through the hollow veins to ensure the wings remain stiff but flexible. The bee has two wings on each side of its body. The picture shows the wings coupled together for flight.




In the resting position the wings are uncoupled over the back of the bee. As the forewing rotates over the hindwing to the flying position a row of hooks on the front edge of the hindwing engage in a fold on the back edge of the forewing. This means that both wings open together and form a single wing surface. The diagram below shows the location of the hooks and fold

The next diagram shows the intricate detail of the coupling mechanism.


Researchers are uncertain what the hairs do. They think that they may have some kind of sensing function.
 
Once the wings are coupled together securely, the bee uses its muscles to flap its wings in the complex manner that we saw earlier. It has no less than eight different sets of muscles. These muscles:
  • raise and lower the wings
  • pull the wings forward and backward
  • move the wings to the correct angle
The bee must coordinate all of these functions correctly to be able to fly.
 
To be able to fly, honey bees:
  • Must have stiff but flexible wings
  • Couple their wings securely together
  • Coordinate their eight sets of muscles to move their wings correctly
 
3. Control in flight

Once the bee is in the air, it must be able to control its movement. The diagram below shows just how complex this is.


  The upper picture shows
  that the bee can move:
  vertically (v) up and
  down,
  longitudinally (l) forwards
  and backwards and
  horizontally (h) side to
  side.



  The lower picture shows
  how the bee can rotate in
  the air, these are known
  as:
  roll (r)
  pitch (p) and
  yaw (y).


  All of these movements
  are achieved by slight
  variations in the angle of
  the wings (which we
  looked at in the first
  section).

When the bee hovers, the wings are producing a vertical force exactly equal to the weight of the bee. Subtle change in the wing angles produces an overall force that is not vertical. This will make the bee move forwards or sideways. When the wing angles are slightly changed on one side only, different forces on each side of the bee are produced. This will cause the bee to turn in the same way that a boat will turn if one oar is producing more force than the other.

 

Bees must take off, fly in
a controlled and directed
manner and land at an
appropriate place. It is
obvious that a great deal
of control of their eight
sets of flight muscles is
essential.
                            Take-off sequence of honey bee

Fixed-wing passenger aircraft are designed to have a high degree of stability in flight, but they are not very manoeuvrable. Bees are more like combat aircraft, which fly on the edge of instability and require complex control systems to keep the aircraft stable. Engineers spend years designing the complex systems required to control these aircraft. These systems constantly monitor the aircraft and rapidly make the necessary minor adjustments to keep the aircraft in the air. The correction must be quick and accurate to avoid disaster. Bees flying on the edge of instability must also monitor their situation continuously and take immediate corrective action. Bees monitor body position and motion through sense special organs and through their eyes.

Honey bees fly on the edge of instability. To stay in the air, they must
have:

  • Sense organs to monitor their current position
  • Control systems to correct undesirable situations
  • Rapid communication between sense organs and control
    systems
  • Rapid communication from the control system to the
    appropriate muscle to correct the situation
 
4. The challenge

 

The flight system of the
honey bee points to a
creator. Unless all of the
systems and features
that we have looked at
are fully functional, the
honey bee cannot fly.
Landing sequence of heavily laden
worker honey bee
 

Evolutionists have no idea how the complex flight system of insects such as bees could have evolved. They must give an explanation of how all these systems, evolving gradually, gave an advantage to the bee at all stages. The fact is that a set of wings that did not work would be a distinct disadvantage in survival. Furthermore, there are no fossils in the fossil record with partially formed wings. When they appear, they are already in possession of fully formed functional wings. Some of them look remarkably like today’s dragonflies, some are like cockroaches and others look more like mayflies. There is no evidence from the fossil record that insect flight systems gradually developed. The facts tell us that they appeared fully functional. They point to a creator.
 

 

Summary:

Insect fossils in the fossil record with partially formed wings are yet to be
found.

No one knows how the honey bee flight system could have developed.

To be able to fly bees must:

bullet arrow Move wings forward on the downstroke
bullet arrow Move wings backward on the upstroke
bullet arrow Rotate their wings to the correct angle on both strokes
bullet arrow Do the above accurately 200 times a second
bullet arrow Gain extra uplift using three complex mechanisms
bullet arrow Have stiff but flexible wings
bullet arrow Couple their wings together securely
bullet arrow Coordinate eight sets of muscles to move their wings correctly
bullet arrow Have:

    • sense organs to monitor their current position
    • control systems to rapidly correct undesirable situations
    • rapid communication between sense organs and control
      systems
    • rapid communication from the control system to the appropriate
      muscle to correct the situation


The facts point to a creator

1 Form and Function in the Honey Bee by Lesley Goodman published by the International Bee Research Association
ISBN 0 86098 243 2.

 
We acknowledge the cooperation of the International Bee Research Association for permission to
reproduce pictures from their book Form and Function in the Honey Bee by Lesley Goodman.