Cooking oil fumes lead to Lufthansa landing

[August 31, 2012]  VIENNA (AP) -- An investigation into why a Lufthansa commercial jet made an unscheduled stop at an Austrian airport last week has arrived at its conclusion: smelly cooking oil.

Boris Ogorski, a spokesman for the German carrier, says fumes and smoke from the cooking oil in the jet's kitchen spread throughout the plane as meals were being warmed, creating a "penetrating odor" and sickening some of the passengers.

The aircraft -- an Embraer 195 with 115 passengers on board -- broke off its scheduled flight from Sofia, Bulgaria, to Munich Thursday, landing smoothly instead in the Austrian city of Linz. Passengers then boarded other flights for their destination.

Ogorski said Thursday the reason for the unscheduled landing is unusual, "but the crew did the right thing."

[Associated Press]

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