If you’ve ever been on a plane that’s encountered a “plumbing problem”, you’ll know the delights of flying when there’s (a) one loo down for the entire journey, (b) unfortunate ‘aromas’, (c) a soggy carpet, (d) all of the above.
If only there was a plumber on board…
On a recent Norwegian flight travelling from Oslo to Munich, there were actually 85.
Read more: The best time to go to the toilet on a plane
They were on a flight destined for Munich when, would you believe it, one of the toilets broke down.
But in a yet another example of irony, the 85 tradesmen from Norway’s plumbing industry, including 65 from one company, Rørkjøp, were unable to fix the faulty loo.
As the Norwegians would say, Ah, dritt.
In a case of a u-bend causing a u-turn, the plane was forced to return to Oslo only 20 minutes after taking off, on a flight that was scheduled to take two hours and 20 minutes.
Read more: Where to sit on a plane to get the best service
According to The Telegraph, a spokesperson for Norwegian said that there was a “technical fault with the toilet” but that it was inspected by Norwegian engineers and repaired. The plane took off again later, arriving in Munich three-and-a-half hours late.
So what about the plumbers?
Frank Olsen, CEO of Rørkjøp, told Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet, “We would have liked to fix the restrooms, but unfortunately it had to be done from the outside and we did not take the opportunity to send a plumber [out] at 10,000 metres.”
• In March 2015, a British Airways flight destined for Dubai had to return to Heathrow due to – ahem – a “smelly poo”.
• In 2017, in another British Airways bathroom-related incident, passengers looking forward to a holiday in the Caribbean were stuck on the tarmac at Gatwick for more than five hours – because of a shortage of loo roll!
• Also in 2017, a Delta flight flying from New York City to Seattle had to make an unplanned stop in Billings, Montana – more than 300km out of its way – for an “emergency toilet break” for passengers after the Boeing 757’s toilets ceased functioning.
• In yet another 2017 incident, a Flybe jet on its way from Birmingham to Amsterdam was forced to divert following a case of ‘air rage’ when a passenger was told he had to wait until the seat-belt sign was off before using the bathroom.
• And in 2014, a Virgin Australia flight was three hours into its flight from Los Angeles to Sydney when it had to head back to the City of Angels thanks to a problem with the “fresh water overflow system”. Hey, as long as it was fresh!
Proudly Australian owned and operated