Gas Leak: Flatulence Causes Airline DIversion

by Jordan Yerman | December 17, 2007 at 12:45 pm

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An American Airlines plane made an emergency landing in Nashville after passengers reported the smell of sulphur from burning matches.

The matches were found on the seat of a woman who had attempted to conceal the odour of flatulence with the matches, Nashville airport authorities said.

Okay, lighting a succession of matches onboard a commercial airline isn't exactly a great move, but I can sort of see where she's coming from: "Must... avoid... embarrassment... at all costs! What do I have on hand? Ah! Matches! Works at home, so..."

Meanwhile, I can imagine why passengers would be scared, but isn't the smell of a burnt match fairly familiar? The article doesn't elaborate on the procedure used to arrive at a flight diversion, so it's unclear if the cabin crew did a quick scan of the passenger area for anything out of place. Air circulates quickly on planes, but anybody seated near the toilets can tell you that smell has a way of lingering near its source.