What makes airplane toilets so ‘extraordinary’? Flight experts explain why they suck — in a good way
NY Post
Airplane toilets suck … literally.
Airplane toilets are anything but a simple touch-and-flush operation. Flight experts wowed travelers after revealing the “extraordinary” amount of engineering that goes into allowing people to safely do their business at 40,000 feet.
In general, the airplane setting takes the most mundane tasks — from heating water to, well, using the lavatory — to new heights of difficulty due to safety concerns.
“Everything is twice as hard on a plane as on the ground,” Al St. Germain, an aviation industry consultant who’s worked for airlines including Delta and United, told CNN.
Flushing airplane toilets with water is prohibited due to aircraft weight restrictions — not to mention that the water would slosh out of the bowl upon hitting turbulence.
Fortunately, scientists devised a Plan B: Air. That’s right, waste matter is sucked out of the plane using a differential pressure (rather than the passive siphon system employed by most terrestrial toilets) in a system patented by James Kemper in 1975.
