View Full Version : Pilot Toilet Break
Kiltrash
2nd Feb 2015, 12:30
In case the experts get all upset and say can't discuss this I wont identiffy the airline or route etc
Recently on a flight of less than 3 hours I would assume there would be 2 pilots
Now there could of course be a check or training pilot as well
However on both the out and return flights I noticed that the cabin crew guarded the cockpit door while the pilots took turns to visit the toilet / stretch legs however no cabin crew replaced the absent pilot each time
I appreciate that this may be down to the airline and replacement may not be 'required' by the governing bodies, and it all down to 'risk management'
I would have thought that to help keep the SLF feeling secure, well the nosey ones like me that notice these sort of things happy that airlines would ensure Cabin crew replace Pilots behind the locked door?
no cabin crew replaced the absent pilot each time
I guess you mean 'remained in the flight deck to call the other pilot if the pilot flying became incapacitated'.
I see your point but, in two crew flight decks, I've never known it done that way.
ericlday
2nd Feb 2015, 13:06
Nosey like you I notice various things as well.
On a certain Irish airline the toilet break is always proceeded with the Seat Belt warning sign being illuminated and then the swap of the Flight Deck member for a CC member.
You're right, it certainly shouldn't be discussed in detail. I think it is safe to say that what you witnessed is one perfectly legitimate way of taking a "break".
HEATHROW DIRECTOR
2nd Feb 2015, 16:33
Well I never. I always thought flight decks were provided with buckets...
Andy_S
2nd Feb 2015, 16:54
I thought that's what the styrofoam coffee cups were for.....
xtypeman
2nd Feb 2015, 17:19
Many many years ago a Captain friend of mine use to do the following. He would come out of the flight deck wearing his cap. Invariably there would be a long queue for the forward loo. He would survey the line of passengers and then ask " can anyone fly a 737". You can imagine the sight of passengers fearing the worst. Then he would say "In that case I better use the loo next".......
MerchantVenturer
2nd Feb 2015, 18:53
I thought that's what the styrofoam coffee cups were for.....
Now that would be an interesting concept with pilots from the distaff side.
Airbanda
2nd Feb 2015, 19:56
MV - Google She Wee.
Lookleft
2nd Feb 2015, 21:27
That will go over well with the Cabin Crew,"Can you take this urine filled bag and put it in the galley bin please." The best way to ensure there are two pilots always on the secure side of the cockpit door is to make the forward toilet only accessible to flight crew. That will require a redesign by the manufacturer and that is not going to happen anytime soon.
lomapaseo
2nd Feb 2015, 23:25
I'm confused on this one that is in the OP
does the FA guard the door from the inside or outside and is the door closed or open?
YorkshireTyke
3rd Feb 2015, 00:51
That will require a redesign by the manufacturer and that is not going to happen anytime
Oh yes it has. Many years ago I flew a model of the 747 that had a toilet built at the back of the flight deck, only cabin crew knew about it, in addition to the pilots of course, no passengers allowed. Easy. Course, I guess now some airline has worked out that they can get another 10 passenger seats in that space ?
Cabin crew used to use it for a crafty smoke. What ? No smoking in the toilets ? Yeah ! Right !
PAXboy
3rd Feb 2015, 00:55
Thread drift.
The 747 was deisgned with the upstairs lounge area, to be used during flight but not for take-off/landing as it only had sofas and chairs.
Which didn't last long.
Fantome
3rd Feb 2015, 01:06
The title of this thread cracked me up
Pilot Toilet Break
If toilet broken you must write it as U/S in the log
otherwise it will not be rectumfied
The late Captain Toby Alleyne of East-West Airlines (F27s out of Sydney)
had occasion to go back to the toilet where a woman was trapped inside
due to failure of the door lock. The large emergency tool did not work
so Tobe fetched the crash axe and calling at the top of his voice
GET WELL BACK IN THERE proceeded with a couple of hefty swipes with
the axe to demolish the door.
On arrival back at Mascot he had the FO write in the 14/1 (maintenance
log) TOILET DOOR U/S
That will go over well with the Cabin Crew,"Can you take this urine filled bag and put it in the galley bin please."
When I was doing single pilot freelance air taxy work, I'd some inebriated oilies who used plastic bags en-route Bergen-Glasgow. The bags failed to function as desired by the drunken drillers and the contents ended swilling around the floor. Thanks, guys :*
tdracer
3rd Feb 2015, 14:13
Having had the good fortune to periodically end up in first class - I've seen variations on this several times on US domestic flights.
Typically, the Flight Attendants will move a galley cart between the lav and the passengers, with a FA standing between the cart and the passengers doing their best to look intimidating. Then one pilot will step out of the flight deck and use the lav. When finished, they'll pick up the intercom to get buzzed back in, typically a minute later the second pilot will also visit the lav.
While I've occasionally seen one of the FA step into the flight deck when one pilot stepped out, that seems to be the exception rather than the rule.
On a trip to Las Vegas, the FA who was standing in front of the galley cart, trying her very best to look intimidating, was a very pretty, rather petite young lady, and she was failing miserably at the 'intimidating' part :E. I had a good laugh with her about it when she came by a few minutes later to ask if I wanted another drink :ok:
AeroSpark
3rd Feb 2015, 17:12
Slightly o/t, but on our recent holiday flight I was contemplating joining the toilet clue as the need was arising and the queue was quite long. At that precise moment my rather clumsy wife swiped my (full) drink off my tray in to my lap. Thanks love:mad: Dilemma, do I sit there crossed legged, and dry out, or risk coming back from the bog with soaking wet shorts?:ugh::{
my rather clumsy wife swiped my (full) drink off my tray in to my lap.
You did, of course, briefly hold the moral high ground - that is, if it wasn't 'Really YOUR fault'. ;)
Back when I was actually aviating (as opposed to pontificating about it), there were always two on the flight deck. When a pilot stepped out for a comfort break, a cabin crew replaced him/her. Simples really; and safe.
jackieofalltrades
4th Feb 2015, 15:57
Well I never. I always thought flight decks were provided with buckets...
Presumably that is why the windows in the cockpit slide open. Got to have somewhere to empty the bucket...
That will end badly in a few types though, that have no sliding flightdeck windows, like the 747, 787, Dash-8Q400, CRJ.
mad_jock
4th Feb 2015, 18:46
that's nothing, there is a old story about when the sheds (shorts 360) were doing the highlands and islands.
There were two doors to get into the cockpit. One for the Fo and one for the CAptain.
The story goes a certain CAptain with a sense of humour used to appear coming backwards out his door with two bits of rope which were tied off in the cockpit to nothing important.
He would then give the two bits of rope to the pax in the front Row.
Then tell them that he was going for a pee.
If they felt the plane bank they had to pull the opposite bit of string etc and if the nose dropped pull on them both.
He then got them to try. Of course the FO was in the front watching the bits of rope and made the required control inputs so it appeared it was doing something.
The CApt then went for a pee leaving the punter holding the bits of rope. If they pulled on them the FO did the required.
After the pee the Captain came and took the ropes back and went back into the cockpit.
Don't know how true the story is but its sounds like something they would do in that era.
Was it you BAsil?
cavortingcheetah
4th Feb 2015, 20:57
As I remember the King Air 200 had a suction tube with a female insert behind the captain's seat. In those old fashioned days of cattle class charter the lavatory was often removed to make way for extra seating.
YorkshireTyke
4th Feb 2015, 20:58
MadJock
I heard that story years ago with reference to RAF Transport Command flying Army personnel. I believe the co-pilot left the flight deck first, and with the auto-pilot engaged the Captain walked out backwards holding the two strings tight, and gave them to the soldier in the first row with a command to keep them tight, then he walked towards the back of the aircraft.
Don't know, but it caused a laugh in the bar that night.
PAXboy
4th Feb 2015, 23:16
My father said that, in the Beaufighter on WWII Ops, they had a tube (effectively, a length of hosepipe). For the most part this worked but, under certain conditions of 'low flow' and height - the contents would freeze. :uhoh:
This caused problems for the man who followed second ... :ooh:
MadJock
I heard that story years ago with reference to RAF Transport Command flying ...
And I heard that story, years ago, about a CP Air B737 captain on the Whitehorse to Vancouver milk-run. (pre-locked cockpit door era, obviously)
dazdaz1
5th Feb 2015, 15:36
Flying to Bristol from Malaga (orange) the Captain joined the loo line behind me. I offered for him to go before me, no I'm fine he said, I could understand, he was stretching his back, arms above his head. Long story short, I asked as anyone on here would ask "Do you ever post on PPRruNe" he smiled "yes I do" .
I'm not telling his user name, it's not often one chats face to face with a Captain.
Mad Jock. It goes back at least to Hastings days, and probably much earlier.
cavortingcheetah
5th Feb 2015, 19:19
On the Vulcan as I remember, each crew man had his own tube which was a very civilized arrangement except perhaps for those used to north sea crossings on the bridge of a destroyer.
Simplythebeast
5th Feb 2015, 19:34
Delta Air Lines pilot locked out of cockpit for Las Vegas landing | Reuters (http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/01/30/us-usa-jetliner-door-idUSKBN0L307K20150130)