151 Passengers + 0 Working Toilets = 1 More Grounding for Boeing’s Dreamliner

The toilets on a Japan Airlines flight en route to Tokyo ceased to flush mid-flight, forcing the plane to return to Moscow

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The new Boeing Dreamliner 787 sits on the tarmac at Manchester Airport during its tour of the world on April 24, 2012 in Manchester, England.

The launch of Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner, a model of fuel efficiency, has been marred by production delays, glitches, and worst of all a battery fire that forced an international grounding. To top it all off, one plane en route from Moscow to Tokyo had to take a U-turn late Wednesday night, because the toilets on the plane “became unable to be used,” as a spokesman for Japan Airlines delicately put it. To put it less delicately, the toilets wouldn’t flush.

The plane, carrying 151 passengers and crew members and an unspecified number of inoperable toilets, landed in Moscow two hours after take-off. “The device to heat meals also had a problem,” the spokesman added.

[Sydney Morning Herald]