Toilet Breaks
 

Thanks to that idiot German Wings F/O the powers that be have decided that I can't be left alone on the flight deck while the copilot takes a leak, I need to be chaperoned by a flight attendant young enough to be my child.

Furthermore, as the toilet visit procedure is so involved, requiring the blocking off of the lavatory and attendance of another F/A in the forward galley I find it simpler to have a dual visit for both pilots, one after the other should either one require a break.

I've made quite a few bathroom breaks which I didn't really need, simply because the whole rigmarole is such a pain it's not worth it just for one person.

Anyone else finding the same ?

Yep....Its a big load of nonsensical B*ll****!

Yip.
Do you think that the added layer of security outweighs the risk of distraction while your f/o is chatting up the hostee while you take a leak?, or the added risk of selecting the wing anti-ice on while at FL 390 with your head as you manoeuvre to get out of your seat? Does it outweigh the risk of missing a radio call while you're tooing and froing on the intercom trying to negotiate a good time to urinate?
Biggest load of beurocratic rubbish yet.

Don't worry, they've got to run out of knees to jerk soon. I hope! :rolleyes::ugh::{

What is the position of our unions on this ?

Are they making representations on our behalf to the knee-jerkers?

Everyday I give thanks that I could get out of the industry.

Funny, that. Every day I wish I could reverse my old age and get back into the cockpit again :sad:

Fact is before 9/11 some carriers required a flight attendant to come into the cockpit whilst one of the flight crewmembers left the cockpit. Check your company manual.

It was not for security reasons back then as it is now.It was in the event the remaining crewmember became incapacitated failure of the auto-pilot, or the key did not work.


Now a day’s security is also an issue.

Fact is before 9/11 , some airlines left the cockpit door open and passengers could visit . Perish the thought that revenue passengers were allowed in the jumpseat also !!

Overseas yes... but not for some time even before 9/11 in the US. Sure miss those good old days:{.

Sorry to say it a knee jerk reaction by political types that really has reduced the level of safety. I now have a Thai national flight attendant that has a Muslim sounding name that i don't know from a bar of soap that's been in the company for about 6 weeks in total standing behind me with easy reach to a crash axe on the wall. Terrorist types be now able to infiltrate the flight deck inside of 6weeks after walking in off the street. Great:ugh:

I've found my urge to pee has become more frequent, particularly during mealtimes.
I must be a nervous flyer.

Prior to this rule groups of people had sat around scratching their heads wondering how they could most effectively bring an airliner down. They were well funded by maniacs pretending to be god/ Allah fearing types. They tried all sorts of weird and resourceful ways to bring an airliner and all the mothers, fathers, sons and daughters on board crashing down, sometimes they have been successful.
A few months ago our beurocrats created, and then publicly highlighted a simple and easy path to take control of the airliners. There will still be groups of maniacs plotting and scheeming, it's just that the route to controlling the aircraft is so simple and obvious that they won't need hidden explosives, they won't need to avoid airport security, they won't need to secret a box cutter in a seat back, all they need is physiological influence over one of their own young folk. A clean skin if you will. Someone who is more than four foot eleven and can pass a mass recruitment interview that entails no physiological testing, little in the way of academic achievement, and no specific skills testing.
Good work champs. Lucky you have been seen to do something.
Ps, if you feel that your flight is less safe now than it was prior to the new rule you should report this to both your airline and the FAA/CAA/CASA etc . Do it anonymously if you wish. I know of several people who have but nothing will change unless many of us report. There will be two benefits if you do, one, the industry will be safer, and two, you will be able to pee when you see fit rather than go into negotiations with your colleagues about when it would suit them for you to pee.

I may be missing something but this "Thai national with a Muslim sounding name with less than six weeks in the company" will still have access to the cockpit. They will still stand next to the axe each and every time they do gain access the other multitude of times they normally would throughout any given flight.

What is different about their entry into the flight deck when a pilot needs a wee, to their entry when a pilot receives their lunch? If they are a terrorist they have still gained access.

I believe the German pilot would not have carried out his murderous intentions if a FA had been on that flight deck with him.

I agree, I think he would have done it at 200ft with the Captain sitting helplessly beside him.
One situation is 2v 1, the other situation is 1v 1.
In the 2v1 neither of the 2 have shoulder harnesses on.
In the 1v1 one is in a five point harness and can't see the other directly behind them and is also required to be looking forward for most of the time.
You say " the German wouldn't have done it if a F/A was there. " In a few years time will you or someone else be saying " the F/A wouldn't have done it if the other pilot was there" .?
It works both ways, it's just that we are exposed to much lower numbers if it's just pilots. A lot fewer brains have to be 'healthy' if we are just trusting the pilots .

A managerial answer to your problem Metro.

http://www.toysrus.com/graphics/prod...1837797reg.jpg

Airbus proposed a solution...

https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/i...5_aZ7L37aFk27A

Gas Bags,
Now they are in the cockpit with one pilot instead of two.

I agree the new rules reduce safety, but hey - the pax THINK they are better off!:rolleyes:

Hypothetical....

If an airline that mandates that a FA (2nd person) be in the cockpit when one of the pilots goes for a refreshment break changed their policy and carried a 3rd Pilot in the pax compartment and his job was to be that 2nd person instead of a FA, would this thread exist?

The FA isn't there to prevent a loony pilot from doing anything, she is there to unlock the FD door, if required.

Our mob has been doing this for years now and you get used to it, it's no biggy.

I heard a bean counting pen pusher suggest a cork and rope kit for the pilots!

Might need to stay off the curry and stop drinking before flight, just like the bad old days.

Piss in a bottle and throw it out the window...

Can anyone provide a reference or link to this "rule".

I understood the Australian carriers agreed to implement this practice voluntarily, but have not seen any reference to a ruling on it.

And you can get the aircraft into an unrecoverable position in far less time than it takes for the other Pilot to get back from the toilet and the FA to open the door.
In fact it can be done with the other Pilot sitting at the controls. There is no improvement in safety at all, possibly only a detriment.

Why get annoyed about it? Because it is just another mindless knee jerk B*ll**** inconvenience dreamt up in the name of security by those who have no idea!

To me it seems that the whole point of this new `regulation` is merely the old excercise of `We have to be seen to be doing something by the greater Public to ensure that such a thing cannot happen again.`

I suspect that the greater Public will buy it as well.:hmm:

LeeJoyce; I once did something very similar to that, but in a Glider.:eek: An Open Libelle to be exact.

`Twere`nt easy!:ugh:

Metro Man ..."I need to be chaperoned by a flight attendant young enough to be my child."

Mate, i can assure you there is nothing more painful then being forced to stop our job to go and babysit one of you then sit there and do small talk.

Many of your social skills lack considerably.
:ugh:

I am polite and ask how the family is etc etc but it wouldn't surprise me if I came across as distracted or not overly 'social' sometimes for the obvious reason that it is not a social situation, I'm doing two things at once, monitoring the aircraft, weather, other aircraft etc, and making small talk with the cc member.
If you want to see my social skills it'll have to be a social setting, like at the bar :)

I suspect you are right Pinky, but that only makes me more annoyed. Be seen to be doing something rather than actually doing something.

Why not address the real issue of having a 600 hr so called Pilot sitting at a control seat of a high capacity Jet. In this particular case.....a 600hr so called Pilot with a history of mental health issues!

I am not aware of anything being done to address the real threat and I am sure the travelling public would feel a lot more comfortable if it was.

There probably is not nor ever will be anything done to address the real threat, simply because yanking someone`s Flight Crew licences on those grounds would be seen by some as a breach of his or her Human rights!!:rolleyes:

Cynical? Who....me????

If an airline can't trust its own pilots by enforcing a rule that in all practicality doesn't achieve/prevent anything, then best not to use that airline. Who wants to fly with schitzo airlines anyway.

But isn't this what you get when you let the psychos run the HR department.

I think the issue should not be how we have to handle toilet breaks. BTW my company always required a F/A to cover the seat of the pilot who takes a leak, and am happy with it.

The issue is rather who is allowed these days to be at the controls of a big airliner. Being very young/inexperienced, like this 600hrs German, does not produce a long list of references/reputation an employer could take advantage of before hiring someone. Yes one may pass all tests for a flight license, but we all know that pilots nature is quite good in hiding problems.

Just my 2 cents..

Another robust and important discussion gentlemen :)

Reminds me of a situation I found myself in a few weeks ago...

Here I was, back of the clock sharing a dark cockpit with yet another whinging Captain, regaling me of his many tales of how hard it was back in the day.

On and on he went.

Then suddenly he went silent.

Stiffened in his seat, eyes wide, I thought he had mistaken Venus for a bogie again and I was guarding the controls expecting him to disconnect the autopilot but alas, it was just his prostrate playing up again and to my relief he just wanted to go back and drain the main vein.

So up came the cabin supervisor, there was a slightly awkward shuffle as he attempted to slip past her lithe form without blushing. But in the faint blue light of the rising moon I could see the red spider veins on his cheek glow in embarrassment as his body pressed past her in his haste to get to the toilet before he pissed his pants.

And there I was. Alone. With my brunette beauty. Her hazel eyes sparkled in the starlight as we gazed at each other.

Finally we had got rid of the old complaining ****w!t and the night sky was ours as we hurtled forwards at greater than 900 kms/hr.

But our time alone was short lived as he mumbled and groaned back into the flight deck, pants wet with piss and complaining about German wings.

Later that night, as he held court in the hotel bar telling everyone how awesome the water injection was in the Metroliner, I winked at my beauty and we relived our precious moments alone in the sky.

So yes, Metro Man.... please keep taking those toilet breaks ;)

Love your work :ok:

Compylot, classic!....but I didn't know you flew for Qantas!

(Actually I'm sure that complaint could fit into any airline)

"She" !!!!

Leadsled does not like FOs telling stories out of school... :}

After a company decision, we are no longer allowed to take a leak whilst airborne.

Mind you, we never had a toilet....

Compylot,

You really prove that you don't need feathers and a long neck.... to be a goose !

METRO NEWS
 

Hi Metro-gnome maybe you could send all your mates greeting cards you have gotten that big promotion and you are now a Second officer..... Well done young fella. They will not understand that you have been "helped" by a murderer.
mmmm the harbour smells, lovely...

Compylot....

Very funny post.... You have missed your calling. Such observational excellence - I really felt like I was there (oh hang on, I have been:{)

Thanks for the belly laugh:ok: