It must have been a difficult call, but the pilot made it. The smell was just too overpowering to go on, the smell of poo.
British Airways Flight 105 reportedly turned back less than an hour after taking off from Heathrow Airport in London en route to Dubai on Thursday. Thirty minutes after take-off, the smell of poo was so overbearing that the captain consulted with the head of the cabin crew. Within 10 minutes the pilot notified passengers that he was turning the plane around.
Explaining that the smell was due to "liquid fecal excrement," the pilot also reassured the passengers that there were no technical difficulties, at least none outside of the plumbing.
Unfortunately some passengers had to wait at least 15 hours before catching the next flight, as one disgruntled passenger tweeted. The flight time normally takes around seven hours from London to Dubai. British Airways, to its credit, provided hotel and food vouchers to the inconvenienced passengers.
It is unclear how things went so terribly wrong for the flight. However, its probably safe to assume that the airline is very embarrassed about its potty mishap.