I suspect this wasn't on the menu.
I suspect this wasn't on the menu.
From the article: “(Kimchi was definitely not on the good list.)“
“or to be stuck in a small space with the smell of your own fart”
Is this what passes as good journalism at Popular Mechanics today?
“Controlled feeding of a high protein, low residue diet for mission pilots should begin twenty-four hours prior to take-off. The objective of this controlled die is to provide foods which can be almost completely absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract, thereby leaving a minimum of residue for the formation of feces and intestinal gases.”
Brutal! I've been consuming a high protein diet for years, but I supplement with fiber to help ease that process. This would be torturous.
Obviously the progenitors of MREs — meals rarely excreted.
MREs do that
This is one of THOSE headlines that says:
“That’s disgusting!
But, I have to click and read it because...well...poop.”
“Nine hours is a long time to be cooped up in a plane without a real bathroom...”
That leaves me out.
Too bad they didn’t just put a poop ejection port in the U2. That would have been a pretty funny thing to dump on Ivan.
I hate to ask, but what about urination?
So THAT is why Dr. Sheldon Cooper never flew for NASA...
The SR-71 was built to avoid the need for this diet. Pilots who go fast need to go fast.
Now I’ve got the Blazing Saddles campfire scene in my head!
Nine hours? Pffft... try a tracking exercise in a P-3.
They talk about this like it's a recent development. We were eating steak and eggs prior to long missions 40 years ago.
Big deal.
Every day military fighter pilots are flying 8 to 17 hour missions strapped into single seat fighters.
They might be orbiting over Afghanistan waiting for a target coordinate, or deploying across the Atlantic or Pacific.
Urination? Piddle packs.
Defecation? Well, you do what you have to. If some American grunts down below are under hostile fire and having the worst day of their lives, are you running home to poop?
Now, the Air Force just shows them a photo of Joy Behar.
That’ll scare anyone shirtless.
Not-so-secret fact: Air Force U-2 pilots still follow the same diet regimen today. And for entertainment on those 8-12 hour missions, the pilots (at one point) would provide a favorite book to a member of the intel ground crew, which was monitoring the collection of the “Dragon Lady’s” sensors and could even steer them from the ground—something the pilot couldn’t do. Typically, the junior member of the intel crew had the task of reading to the pilot after the U-2 arrived on station (insert dumb pilot joke here). These days, the pilots may have an IPad/tablet along for the ride, though I’m not sure how easy it would be to use one in a pressure suit.
During my crew dog days (mid-90s), we used to chat periodically with a U-2 that launched out of Crete and did missions in the Balkans. One of the early female U-2 pilots had an incredible voice and when she was in the jet, she got numerous requests for a radio check. Have no idea what she looked like; if she ever left the Air Force, she could have made a fortune doing voice over work. Someone told me she was an All-American swimmer at USAFA and could out-lift half the guys in her squadron.
Another favorite U-2 story from the same era. My unit was out of Keesler and at one point, the base deployed a finance officer to provide support to our mission. He relayed a story from his enlisted days at Lajes Field back in the 80s. A seven-figure check from the US Department of Agriculture arrived at the accounting and finance office, addressed to the Government of Portugal, our “hosts” at Lajes.
He took it to the finance officer and said it must be a mistake, because the check indicated it was for eradication of a bug that had long since disappeared in the Azores. The finance officer said it was no mistake and told his NCO to close the door. He explained the payment was for U-2 missions from Lajes we were running over Libya in the mid-80s. As long as the money kept coming in, Portugal allowed the U-2 flights to continue. The “eradication” program was a way to launder the money (and ensure Portugese cooperation), without a direct payment from DoD.
This is turning into a TMI Thread.
Remember the long flights of our bombers to bomb the tent of M. Khadafi? One reporter got curious and found they were supplied with methamphetamine pills to remain awake and alert.