Posted on 04/16/2025 8:22:57 AM PDT by yesthatjallen
The new system came from a private/public innovation challenge aimed at women who fly jets and say they often won't drink water for hours to avoid the 'mess' of traditional relief systems.
Believe it or not, pilots relieving themselves mid-flight has become a national security issue.
For decades, many military pilots who heard nature’s call — particularly those who fly fighters and especially women in those planes — faced an unpleasant reality: use the decades-old ‘piddle packs’ or other devices designed for mid-flight peeing, hold it the whole way, or risk dangerous dehydration by drinking so little water that you never need to go.
But a new device, dubbed the Advanced Inflight Relief Universal System or AIRUS, developed through an Air Force innovation incubator program, may make it easier going for, well, going.
For as long as there have been planes in the sky, pilots in single-seat aircraft like fighter jets or others with ejection seats have had to unbuckle their harnesses and shimmy up from their seats to find a position that allowed for relief. In rare occasions, the urge to go has led to fatal accidents, including one A-10 pilot who failed to re-strap himself properly into his parachute after using a device to pee, only to be forced to eject later in the flight.
SNIP
(Excerpt) Read more at taskandpurpose.com ...
>>But a new device, dubbed the Advanced Inflight Relief Universal System
Fancy name for ‘Depends’
After landing, it’s called AIRUS OUT.
“An A-10 pilot failed to re-strap himself properly into his parachute after using a device to pee, only to be forced to eject later in the flight.”
I could not think of a bigger “Oh sh1t” moment that ejecting only to discover you forgot to put your parachute on.
“Man, I gotta pee” - Alan Shepard in Mercury Freedom 7
Hmmm, I bet no man wants anything but the 'large' size. Otherwise, the locker room hazing would be brutal.
Flew on a US Navy DC-3 ish tail dragger in Iceland during the mid 70s. In flight ‘relief’ was in the back through the rear compartment door at the tail. On the back of the door was a funnel connected to a tube routed through the bottom of the plane....
Wonder if it got the Astronaut Lisa Nowak’s approval for long distance travel?
“I was in the pool, so I guess a small will do for now.”
Channeling Seinfeld I see
Good reference!
I just used the urinal in the back of my C-130.
“” 2023 survey of Navy flyers found that nearly 93% of female pilots and aircrew stationed in California, Japan, and Spain said they would “tactically dehydrate” to avoid having to pee in the cockpit, sometimes not drinking water on flights as long as eight hours. Researchers have found that dehydrated pilots can have lower G-tolerance by up to 50%, leading to G-induced loss of consciousness, a reduction in their physical and cognitive abilities, headaches and altered vision””
That wasn’t known by the public and it seems like it would have had something to do with military capabilities, but I guess not.
Why don’t they just have stewardesses hold a container for them as they lean over the pilot while wearing a very loose blouse?
A non-problem. In the very near future the pilots will be on the ground.
Advanced Inflight Relief Universal System or AIRUS ..
What? They did not adapt the project name “Advanced Inflight Relief Pilot Insertion Stress System” or AIRPISS?
WWLP? (Where Would Laz Point?)
Lmao
LOL Good one...
We had a full-on head in our P-3Cs. However, it had to be dumped and cleaned on post flight. Junior enlisted aircrew got that job...
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