While we can all be forgiven for forgetting things - be it an important piece of paper at home or a coat in a dimly lit bar - some forgetful souls are punished more than others. Case in point: last week, an easyJet flight between Nice and Basel was cancelled, after one of the ground staff misplaced their can of cola.

Can of cola blamed for cancelled flight to Switzerland

Cola may not be known to give you wings, but the beverage does have a chance of ruining your plans for a holiday, as 20 Minuten reports. According to officials at Nice Airport, our story starts when an easyJet flight was preparing for its journey back to Basel on October 25, but was cancelled before it took off. 

The company confirmed that “hotel rooms were able to be provided to all passengers who requested them” with travellers able to rebook on other connections to the Swiss airport the following day. It was later revealed that instead of a bird strike, an electrical malfunction or even a bad smell, the reason for the cancellation was far more unusual.

Cola can sucked through jet engine

According to the report, a worker who was responsible for pushing the plane back from the stand before take-off had accidentally left a can of cola in the inlet of one of the engines. The man failed to recognise the mistake until after he had pushed the plane back and given it the all-clear to start taxiing.

Then, once the plane started spooling up for takeoff, the engine “ingested” the can of cola. Naturally, any object flying inside a working jet engine can cause major damage, so the plane was quickly shut down so that police could perform a thorough sweep and engineers could survey the extent of the damage. 

The can of pop was found to have caused significant damage to the engine, and so the flight was cancelled at 11.30pm. The airline confirmed that it would be opening an investigation into the incident, with a pilot passenger on board telling 20 Minuten that he was surprised that the mandatory visual checks did not spot the can resting inside the engine.

Thumb image credit: EvrenKalinbacak / Shutterstock.com