Flatulence Forced Landing

Do you smell what I smell?

Flatulence brought 99 passengers on an American Airlines flight to an unscheduled visit to Nashville early Monday morning.Advertisement

American Flight 1053, from Washington Reagan National Airport and bound for Dallas/Fort Worth, made an emergency landing here after passengers reported smelling struck matches, said Lynne Lowrance, a spokeswoman for the Nashville International Airport Authority.

The plane landed safely. The FBI, Transportation Safety Administration and airport authority responded to the emergency, Lowrance said.

The passengers and five crew members were brought off the plane, together with all the luggage, to go through security checks again. Bomb-sniffing dogs found spent matches.

The FBI questioned a passenger who admitted she struck the matches in an attempt to conceal body odor, Lowrance said. The woman lives near Dallas and has a medical condition.

The flight took off again, but the woman was not allowed back on the plane.

A woman does something which the other passengers find potentially threatening, resulting in her removal from the plane and a ban on future flights. Where have I heard a story like this before?

This must have been terribly embarrassing for the lady - maybe it was even humiliating.

To her credit, I have not heard her planning a "fart-in" at Washington National Airport, nor has she demanded a special "farting room" at airports so she can take care of her personal requirements in private without alarming other passengers.