Flight carrying more than 80 plumbers grounded due to toilet trouble

A Norwegian Air plane arriving from Stockholm touches down at Oakland International Airport on Friday, March 3, 2017, in Oakland, Calif. A Norwegian flight from Oslo to Munich was grounded Saturday due to toilet problems. More than 80 plumbers were reportedly aboard the flight. less A Norwegian Air plane arriving from Stockholm touches down at Oakland International Airport on Friday, March 3, 2017, in Oakland, Calif. A Norwegian flight from Oslo to Munich was grounded Saturday due to ... more Photo: Noah Berger, Special To The Chronicle Photo: Noah Berger, Special To The Chronicle Image 1 of / 15 Caption Close Flight carrying more than 80 plumbers grounded due to toilet trouble 1 / 15 Back to Gallery

More than 80 plumbers were aboard Norwegian Flight DY1156 on Saturday, but their pipe savvy was useless in the face of a faulty airplane toilet.

Their flight took off from Oslo for Munich shortly after 9:30 a.m., Swedish news site Dagbladet reports. The plane got as far as the Swedish border before it was forced to return to Oslo due to "a problem with the toilets on board," a Norwegian Air spokesperson told the Independent.

About 85 of the passengers onboard were plumbers, many with the Rørkjøp plumbing company, the Swedish news site said.

Rørkjøp CEO Frank Olsen told the site his employees wanted to fix the restrooms but "it had to be done from the outside and we didn't risk sending a plumber to work at 10,000 (meters)."

Tiny toilets: Traveling on the bus from SF to LA. Story continues below.

The Independent said technicians on the ground quickly fixed the issue and the plane was able to land in Munich around noon.

It's not uncommon for restroom issues to send planes back to land. Earlier this month, two United Airlines flights were forced to land with toilet troubles.

A Denver-to-Hawaii flight was diverted to San Francisco because its lavatories had reached capacity. At the beginning of the month, a United Airlines flight flying from Chicago to Hong Kong made an unscheduled landing in Alaska after a passenger smeared feces all over the plane's bathrooms.

Michelle Robertson is an SFGATE staff writer. Email her at mrobertson@sfchronicle.com or find her on Twitter at @mrobertsonsf.