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Flight Filled With Plumbers Diverts Due to... a Plumbing Issue

Jan. 29, 2018
2 min read
Flight Filled With Plumbers Diverts Due to... a Plumbing Issue
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How many plumbers does it take to fix an airplane bathroom at 33,000 feet? No, that's not the start of a bad joke (or maybe it is?). It's a real-life situation that a Norwegian Air flight faced Saturday when a flight from Oslo (OSL) to Munich (MUC) with at least 60 plumbers on board experienced a problem seemingly well-suited for those passengers.

Less than 15 minutes into Norwegian Air flight 1156, the aircraft developed a plumbing issue. Coincidentally enough, on board the flight were around 85 employees of plumbing company Rørkjøp, including "60-70 plumbers." They sprung into action, but the problem couldn't be resolved — at least at altitude. Company CEO Frank Olsen explains:

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 in line at 10,000 meters.

Since the issue couldn't be fixed, the seven-year old Boeing 737-800 had to divert back to Oslo (OSL). While we have seen our share of "flights to nowhere" recently, this one may be the most ironic of them all.

H/T: FlightRadar24

Photo by Swell Media/Getty Images

Featured image by Getty Images/Uppercut RF