Lighting matches on an airplane?
OK, so I'm not really sure how to feel about this article. Apparently a woman who was embarassed by her flatulence odors-caused by some kind of medical problem-lit some matches while a plane was in flight to try to mask the smell. Alerted to the smell of burning sulfur, the pilot made an emergency landing, passengers get searched, dogs go through plane, the whole nine yards.
The woman eventually 'fessed up after a while, but not before the passengers were thoroughly inconvenienced.
On the one hand I feel sorry for someone who is so embarassed by her body odors that she needs to resort to such extreme measures even if it's a medical condition. But when it gets to a point that you start to see everything unravelling-that the plane is making an emergency landing etc-wouldn't you eventually say something before it went too far? Even if it's just discreetly to a flight attendant to inform the captain? The captain can make a more informed decision either way.
I know it's not that simple, and the woman probably panicked and wasn't able to think rationally-my comments are strictly in hindsight. At least the media had the sense to save the woman from further embarassment by not naming her, AFAICT.
That said, however, I once spent 10 hours on a packed plane sitting directly behind a guy who was farting every couple of minutes and releasing the most noxious odors. Smelled like something had crawled up his ass, died, and was decomposing. I get exposed to some pretty strong smells at work, but this was...ugh...I had to tuck my nose into my shirt to try to minimize exposure. Under those circumstances, I'd have happily lit some matches on the plane.