BA flight forced to return to LHR due to bad smell
 

British Airways flight to Dubai forced to return to Heathrow Airport after 'smelly poo in the toilet' becomes unbearable for passengers

- Captain informed passengers the smell was from 'liquid faecal excrement'
- Plane returned to London about 30 to 40 minutes after take-off
- Passenger Abhishek Sachdev said crew had health and safety concerns
- Travellers were put up in hotel rooms and offered food vouchers

Plane forced to return to Heathrow after 'smelly poo in the toilet' | Daily Mail Online

"Liquid faecal excrement" ? As opposed to non-faecal excrement?!

good judgement by this BA captain.

I wonder how much extra stress was put on the landing gear from the overweight landing, assuming that they didn't dump fuel instead of fecal matter :hmm: I spent the last 2hrs of a Trans-Atlantic flight with one of the toilets overflowing and leaking out onto the aisle with a strong smell and it wasn't pleasant. Worse still was the caveat that no-one was allowed to use any of the working toilets as this apparently made the broken toilet worse.

I understand this was more than a bad smell. I am told matter was oozing into the club cabin rendering the place a health risk, not to mention where else this stuff was flowing and what it would do to the aeroplane electrics.

This whole problem was caused by a blocked grey water drain system. The toilets are drained by a vacuum system into a toilet tank. This was working normally.
The toilet sink, galley sink, and bev maker overflow drain all join up and drain through the overboard drain mast. Also draining into this line is drains from the passenger door sills, and the toilet compartment floor, and the galley chillers.
The drain mast was blocked. Water poured down the toilet sink will travel through the drain line, and come out somewhere. Usually the drain by the door, or in this case the galley chiller drain. On its way through the drain system, it will pick up coffee residue and gunge that is lying in there and when it comes out it usually smells bad. (all drain lines are coated by dried coffee) This smelly water was interpreted as poo by someone, but it has nothing to do with what goes down the toilet bowl.
I Have had the same discussion with a B767 crew, and they would not believe me that the toilet system was not leaking, and it was a blocked drain.

Would it not be viable financially for the airlines to routinely purge said grey water system on a very regular basis, apart from post problem or mx ?


SHJ