Borked bog forces flight carrying 83 plumbers to bug out back to base

A Norwegian airline flight carrying scores of plumbers was forced to make an unplanned break because of a persistent problem with the onboard water closet.

The Munich-bound Boeing 737-800 left Oslo Gardermoen on Saturday morning but the plane returned to the airport north of Norway's capital to fix the malfunctioning loo.

The airline's comms handler confirmed the U-turn in a statement sent to The Register.

"Flight DY1156 from Oslo to Munich on Saturday January 27 returned to Oslo due to a technical fault with the toilet. The aircraft was repaired and continued with the flight later that day.

"We would like to thank passengers for their patience and would like to apologise for the inconvenience."

‘Is there a plumber on board?’

A Norwegian flight with 84 plumbers on board turned back to Oslo this weekend because a problem with the toilets.

🔧🚽 https://t.co/lUPlJIxGMU #DY1156 pic.twitter.com/s6KgfLJZkg

— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) January 30, 2018

The plane had to first circulate over Hedmark, a county in southeastern Norway, to, er, dump fuel so it was not too heavy to land.

The exact cause of the borkage was not revealed, but local engineers gave the toilet the onceover back at base before the plane was given the all-clear to fly passengers to Munich hours later than planned.

Among the passengers on board were 85 plumbers, including 65 from Rørkjøp, and it seems some were willing to roll up their sleeves.

"We would have liked to fix the restrooms, but unfortunately it had to be done from the outside and we did not take the risk to send a plumber [out] at 10,000 metres," Rørkjøp CEO Frank Olsen told Norwegian daily Dagbladet.