Browned-off B.C. drivers say sewage fell from sky

VANCOUVER• SUSANALLAN and her son were driving through Kelowna’s downtown on a mild May afternoon with their sunroof down when they stopped for a red light and were showered with pungent waste.

“It was coming from the sky, covered my car, and got in my face and in my mouth,” Allan said.

The discharge splattered across the hood and back seat of her car, as well as the cars behind hers and in adjacent lanes. The smell was horrid.

“You could tell it was feces because it smelt like poop. But there was also a hint of chlorine. It was the strangest smell.”

When Allan managed to look up, she saw a large plane flying overhead.

A visit to the doctor the next morning for a swollen, red eye revealed that Allan had contracted a conjunctivitis infection.

“He told me I had human feces in my eye,” she said. “I’m 100 per cent positive it was from an airplane.”

Three other residents from across B.C. have recounted a similar experience. All four incidents happened in the span of four days, between May 9-12.

Transport Canada has launched an investigation into two incidents in Kelowna. In an email, the department said it’s possible a valve malfunction allowed the leakage of “blue ice” — a term used for frozen waste enclosed in sewage holding tanks aboard aircraft.

If the liquid seeps and sticks to the outside of the aircraft, it could detach from the plane during flight, either in a solid or melted state, the department said.

But Clark Duimel, executive director of the Pacific Flying Club, said he hasn’t heard of this happening in nearly 30 years. “I doubt it’s coming from a jet aircraft, though it’s possible,” he said.

On that same afternoon that the Allans were hit, Ron Ackerson pulled into a rest stop along the highway on the drive home to Williams Lake after a doctor’s appointment.

“All of a sudden, it’s just brown. The whole grill, the hood, the windshield, and even some on the tailgate. I thought ‘What the frig is going on here?’ ”

Ackerson said it was a clear sky, and he didn’t manage to catch a glimpse of anything above.

“But there’s no way in this world there’s a bird big enough in this day and age that could crap that much. And they sure all wouldn’t be crapping at the same time,” he said.

Ecologist and ornithologists seem to agree.

David Lank, a research associate with Simon Fraser University’s biology department and centre for wildlife ecology, pointed to two features of the discharge.

“First of all, it would mostly be white if it was a bird,” he said. “And the amount — it’s too much even for a flock of geese all pooping simultaneously.”

Kelowna International Airport said it is co-operating with the Transport Canada investigation.

SUSAN ALLAN Susan Allan’s spot-covered car. “You could tell it was feces because it smelt like poop,” she said.