The following is from Airliner World magazine, May 2008 edition, page 76:

“In March, the crew of an Alitalia flight made an emergency landing at Boston Logan International Airport in the USA after being overcome by noxious fumes.  The cargo flight had been inbound to Miami from Milan when the crew were forced to don oxygen masks and declare an emergency.  After a safe landing, the cause of the odour was investigated and found to be the aircraft’s cargo of five tons of minced onions.  It was then added to the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) ‘No Fly List’ and sent from Boston to Miami by road.”

Bob’s comments:

1.  Yes, that’s the speling of “odour.”  Well, it is in a magazine printed in the UK.    :-)

2.  I’ve packaged, approved for shipment, and loaded many an item of hazardous cargo, including explosives, radioactives, and corrosives, but I’ve never shipped chopped onions and would never have expected them to be in the Hazardous Cargo manual.

3.  Chopped onions.  From Milan.  On Alitalia.  Of course.

4.  A big thank you to Rosemary, my neighbor, who placed a stack of the magazines on my garage workbench when I wasn’t looking.  The US sticker price is $10.95 a copy and if you enjoy things aviation, it is a steal for the photography alone.