When you are busting!

It's taken me a week to pluck up the courage to tell this story and seek some advice:

A farmer pilot and his wife in our area invite 20 or so planes to their farm once a year for a barbque. They have a great set up - with a very good strip, just North of Wellington, NSW. The event was last weekend.

It was a bit far for me to travel in my trike, so I hitched a lift with another local pilot / owner in his Storch. What a fabulous machine. We left at 0900 with an ETA of around 1015 cruising at 65kts. On the way to meet him (wont name him here - but he is well known to many on this forum) I had a half litre of flavoured milk, about an hour after having had breakfast. I thought about having a pee before climbing in the a/c, but thought "no need - did that an hour or so ago"....

Well, you guessed it - 40 minutes into the flight I was busting; and the upright angle of the rear seat in the Storch didnt help. I finally announced that to the guy in the front seat, telling him that I would be struggling to go the distance...

"No problem", he says - with me looking down on the mostly tiger country around us - "the Storch will go in anywhere..." And in we went; a smallish paddock on the top of a ridge, replete with stumps and heaps of rocks, and steep gorges on all sides.. He did one pass, then a 360 at an impossibly low speed - lined up on a bit of bare-ish dirt and plonked it down with the stall buzzer squealing; followed by a ground roll of about 20m!

I leapt out - did my thing - took a quick photo. He turned the tail dragger around in its own length - gunned it under brakes and we were off in about 50m; bloody amazing..

But apart from experiencing the impressive STOL performance of the Storch - here I was, a pilot myself, creating risk and inconvenience to my friend and PIC.

So what do others do? Is it as simple as pre-flight planning to limit ones fluid intake beforehand - and end up thirsty in flight - or are there pee-bottles, or what? If there are - it would be OK for us lads - but more difficult for the ladies...I'd imagine.

Cheers,

A contrite Chris

I wonder

I have always wondered what Racing car drivers do in the same situation.

I was once told that in the Bathurst 1000 the drivers just pee there pants?

Don't know if its try but I have seen interviews with some driver and the subject has been raise and and answer avoided

There is a product available that is highly absorbent that allows you to do it in your pants and not get them wet. I do not have any experience of it or ever seen it. But I have seen it advertised somewhere on an aviation site.

Regards

The shop here sells a portable toilet - a bag that contains crystals then when used the urine (or vomit) is absorbed by the crystals - I always carry one in my plane in case of emergencies - not a plug but really advising that there are products out there for this kind of emergency

I've been known to pee in a bottle on long flights.

A very large neck obviously.

Various brands of liquid Wool wash bottles are pretty good. reasonable capacity, nice wide neck.

I know the glider guys often have piddle tubes - watch out for yellow clouds around the gliders.

" P " in-flight.

You will get your own back if you install a tube overboard. The interior is a low pressure area . Nev....

Good advice. Discovered through experience Nev? :yuk:

I've been known to pee in a bottle on long flights. A very large neck obviously.

yeh thats with the magnafying glass

these look like fun!

Black molded plastic venturi mounts on fuselage bottom and produces required suction to horn and outlet tubes for fluid ejection.

say no more... who said you cant combine the 2 best pastimes on earth!

My instructor used to laugh when I would nick to the loo before a lesson, saying I was off for a "preflight pee" until one day we landed after a long lesson and he had to run straight inside....

My good Mate John with the Mini Mustang said the key was to plan your refuelling stops to coincide with bladder capacity when organising a long trip, and to ensure "neither was compromised"...

Ben

On the flip side, dehydration can also be a real risk and can result in poor decision making, loss of coordination and degraded vision.

If you can avoid the need for an off airport landing by having an emergency pee bottle it's probably safer to stay hydrated. I remember seeing both male and female pee bottles in a pilot shop catalog.

Yep, I paid about $8 for a plastic container that looks like the bottles in use at a hospital for those that are bed bound. It comes with a suitable sculptured neck attachment for female bits and a plastic lid that is almost childproof. Available from larger chemists or companies that specialise in home nursing equipment.

I havent needed it yet, but having it available makes me feel more comfortable about having an inflight drink if I feel I need it.

Im sure just carrying an empty large plastic PET softdrink bottle would achieve the same outcome if the air was smooth and your aim impeccable.:)

Having neither available is bound to create some uncomfortable periods. Im pretty sure that a CTsw or a jabiru wouldnt take so kindly to a drop in paddock as the STOL aircraft described earlier so that is one alternate that for many isnt an alternate.

Andy

I seem to be putting plugs in but it isn't intended but there is also that drink called Flight Recovery - rehydrates you 2.5 times that of water so you only need to take a 200ml drink of it and you will last for hours and feel much better when you land after a long flight. I couldn't make it from Riddells to Narromine in one leg because of the fluids I use to take along the way but I don't have a problem now as I use that stuff myself. Coming back from Port Mac I take one of the 200ml drinks and I just stop at Temora, more for a break then a bladder stop, and then go straight to Riddells in melb.

I've been known to pee in a bottle on long flights. A very large neck obviously.

Aaah, the advantage of the Drifter, flop, ok enough...

A very large neck obviously

found this when googleing spu bags.......ONE UNDER THE SEAT.......PRICELESS

click here Travelljohn

found this when googleing spu bags.......ONE UNDER THE SEAT.......PRICELESSclick here Travelljohn

Love the illustration on the box

Have a traveljohn at the ready in my a/c. Haven't had to use it yet.

Trick from an experienced RV International Traveller; no coffee, tea or big drinks for breakfast. He sips on a bottle of water throughout the day, but no large drinks.

caffeine, is a diuretic so i don't drink coffee, coke, or any other soft drink!

even when i go on long drives, small breaky and just sip on water all day, can go for hours without needing to pee. well beyond the fuel range of most aircraft i fly.

i remember as a15yo riding in a c 172 when friends little brother tried to wee wee in a empty orchy bottle (that he had just finished drinking:clap:)

being a rather bumpy flight.........NOT PRETTY

found this when googleing spu bags.......ONE UNDER THE SEAT.......PRICELESSclick here Travelljohn

http://www.recreationalflying.com/shop/index.php?target=products&product_id=29848

God Ian it also looks like you can do number two's in there :yuk: Gross. I don't see that as being easy in an aircraft but there you go. That and even a number one for the ladies When you think about it Steve Fosset must have used these or similar when he did his around the world trips.

Talk to a glider pilot. they can be up all day