Friday’s Copa Airlines flight 393 from Panama City to Tampa, Florida took off at 9:36 a.m. But less than an hour later, it was headed back to the airline’s hub with special forces placed on alert. Crew had identified what they thought was a bomb placed in the lavatory. It was a diaper. An adult diaper.

The Boeing 737 was back on the ground around 11 a.m. and was held in a remote position, not allowed anywhere near the terminal. It was met by emergency vehicles, and police boarded. Passengers were taken off of the plane, and an investigation of the dangerous lavatory determined that an adult diaper had been wrapped in a plastic bag.

According to officials,

We had it on a secure runway where police special explosives canine units and special forces examined the object, and found it to be an adult diaper, ruling out any risk.

After three hours on the ground the plane was allowed to take off again. According to the National Police of Panama, the special forces response to an adult diaper was self-congratulations worthy for their abundance of caution.

After an alert by @aacivilpty of a foreign object on an airline, the Special Forces units activated the emergency protocol and when verified it turned out to be a disposable adult diaper. #Prevención

Luego de una alerta por el @aacivilpty, de un objeto extraño en una aerolínea las unidades de Fuerzas Especiales activaron el protocolo de emergencia y al ser verificado resultó ser un pañal desechable de adulto. #Prevención pic.twitter.com/n3pBqQZki9

— Policía Nacional (@ProtegeryServir) October 13, 2023

As a matter of etiquette, wrapping a diaper before disposing of it in an aircraft lavatory is a best practice! However leaving the diaper (adult or otherwise) out and visible to other passengers and crew who follow you into the lav is not. Here the consequence was that everyone had to spend 5 extra hours traveling to Tampa. For some, of course, 5 extra hours not being in Tampa might not be considered a punishment.

(HT: Live and Let’s Fly)