Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Flaming Farts Force Flight's Fizzle

Should Homeland Security monitor people who are munching down bean burritos at the local airport Taco Bell? An American Airlines flight was forced to make an emergency landing on December 4th after a passenger lit a match to cover up the smell of her flatulence.

The Washington-to-Dallas flight landed in Nashville after a female passenger lit the match and passengers noted the smell of burning sulfur. The 99 passengers and five crew members left the plane and were screened, but the woman who lit the match was not allowed back on board.

The unidentified passenger was questioned and admitted to striking the match or matches. She was said to have an undisclosed medical condition that may have caused the flatulence. She was released by the FBI and will not be charged.

Passengers are allowed to bring a limited number of matchbooks on board planes, but it is illegal to strike a match in an airplane, a transportation official said.

As far as I know, Homeland Security is not considering naming flaming flatulence as an imminent terrorist threat. But they'll clearly not allow lighting fires on aircraft to get rid of that stinky-poo smell. So if you've got someone with bad gas on your flight, well, you'll just have to grin and bear it. Or hold your breath until you land.

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