By Lizzie Porter
Heather Cho: Guilty of over an on-board incident, dubbed 'nut rage'Credit: Reuters
As a British Airways plane is forced to turn around because of a 'smelly' toilet issue, we look at other unusual reasons why pilots have decided to head back.
Toilet trials
The latest incident involved a "smelly poo" on a British Airways flight. The pilot of the plane announced that the long haul flight had to be aborted, after cabin crew were unable to prevent the pungent odour emanating from an overflowing toilet. Around 30 minutes in the seven-hour flight, the plane returned to London amid health and safety concerns.
It is not the first lavatory-related mishap that has caused a plane to turn around. Last year, a Virgin Australia flight from Los Angeles to Sydney had to return to its US departure point three hours after take off due to a problem with the "fresh water overflow system".
At least one passenger claimed they had to sit next to waste: Julia Malley told a New Zealand radio programme that "We could see it [human waste] go through the aisles, it was very obvious," although Virgin Australia denies that excrement reached the passenger seating area. A spokesperson told The Mirror at the time that the onboard toilets operated on a "completely separate drainage system" and because the issue was with a sink, there was "no incident of leaked human waste."
Nut rage
Plane mishap.
One of last year's more unusual travel stories involved a plane returning to the gate following a air executive's alleged fury at being served macadamia nuts from a packet while travelling in First class. Cho Hyun-ah, the daughter of Korean Air's chief executive, was found guilty of obstructing aviation safety in February this year after the incident in December, when she became outraged at her snack appearing in a packet, instead of on a plate. The former head of in-flight service at Korean Air is said to have insulted flight attendants by shouting and forcing them to kneel before her as the plane taxiied down the runway at New York airport, forcing the plane to return to the gate to change staff.
Desperate measures
In 2011, the corpulent French actor Gerard Depardieu caused a Dublin-bound plane to return to the stand after urinating on board. The star of Jean de Florette relieved himself in front of other passengers when staff refused him entry to the toilets, as the plane was preparing for take-off and passengers were required to remain seated. The actor later apologised for the incident, which saw him removed from the aircraft when it returned to the gate. The rest of the passengers later took off with a two-hour delay.
Unexpected flight experience.
Tannoy talk
An American Airlines flight from Dallas-Fort Worth to Chicago in 2012 had to return to the gate after a flight attendant made "inflammatory" remarks over the tannoy system just before take-off. A passenger on board the flight told ABC News that the member of cabin crew had said "hey pilot, I'm not going to be responsible for your crash", before the microphone could be taken from her. American Airlines released a statement at the time to say that the aircraft returned to the gate where it was met by Department of Public Safety officers.
Smelly work
French actor Gerard Depardieu.Credit: AFP
Passengers of Qantas Airlines, Australia's national carrier, suffered four turn-arounds in 48 hours last year, according to the Guardian. Reasons for the disrupted flights included "an unusual smell", problems with the in-fight entertainment system, and issues with the air-conditioning system.
In 2013, a plane en route to Frankfurt had to be diverted to Copenhagen because of a "strong odour" emitted by a recently-installed carpet.
The Telegraph, London
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