Next time I'm in a plane and I need to use the bathroom, I'll just piss my pants. It's safer.

I never understood why the lavatory was so popular on airplanes. They're cramped and never cleaned. Yet the second the plane gets in the air people are lining up to use it... 30 minutes after you left the terminal. I swear, people probably use airplane toilets with more frequency than any other toilet situation on the planet.

My favorite is seeing people walking into them just wearing socks. Barf.

Its just the place to be I guess.

We're all going to die, I'll be the only one not to shiat themselves.

SilentStrider: In all fairness, death is preferable to being in an airplane toilet anyway.

Ya, pretty much this. Hate airplane restrooms, especially when there's turbulance!

95629: I never understood why the lavatory was so popular on airplanes. They're cramped and never cleaned. Yet the second the plane gets in the air people are lining up to use it... 30 minutes after you left the terminal. I swear, people probably use airplane toilets with more frequency than any other toilet situation on the planet.

My favorite is seeing people walking into them just wearing socks. Barf.

Its just the place to be I guess.

Most smokers know that if you unstop the drain it will create a suction that you can blow your smoke into and avoid the smoke alarm going off.


/nonsmoker
//know a few things about airplanes.

NEVER use the bathroom on the plane for a variety of reasons. I've flown dozens of times in the last decade and have used the bathroom exactly twice (damn you beer!). Even on flights of 4+ hours.

/sorry about your hamster bladder

What a pisser.

95629: I never understood why the lavatory was so popular on airplanes. They're cramped and never cleaned. Yet the second the plane gets in the air people are lining up to use it... 30 minutes after you left the terminal. I swear, people probably use airplane toilets with more frequency than any other toilet situation on the planet.

My favorite is seeing people walking into them just wearing socks. Barf.

Its just the place to be I guess.

Did you not realize from the two hours waiting at the airport that you might have to take a leak or a dump?

You go before bed, long car rides, movies, can't an airplane be thought of as all three???

Can somebody post a working link?

Rather than using chemical oxygen generators in the lavatory, which could be rigged as an explosive device behind closed doors, why not replace them with a small oxygen bottle?

Oh wait. That would be too expensive and so what if someone dies from lack of oxygen in the lavatory.

Pollexabator: NEVER use the bathroom on the plane for a variety of reasons. I've flown dozens of times in the last decade and have used the bathroom exactly twice (damn you beer!). Even on flights of 4+ hours.

/sorry about your hamster bladder

What's your plan for the 14hr haul?

/Flew from Newark to Shanghai and back.
//Peed at least 3x per flight

But that's not really true: According to industry experts, decompression incidents are not uncommon on both civilian or military aircraft. In fact, about 40 to 50 rapid decompression accidents occur every year throughout the world, according to a report (PDF) by the Aviation Medical Society of Australia and New Zealand.

I'm not sure if the total number is taking into account both civilian and military aircraft decompression but I'd say given the amount of total flights WORLD WIDE in a year, 40 or 50 is pretty damn rare.

According to this Yahoo! Answer (yeah yeah I know...) "Total worldwide passenger traffic reached an all time high in 2007, increasing by 6.8 percent over 2006. Final reports from 1200 ACI member airports confirm that they processed 4.8 billion passengers, 88.5 million metric tonnes of cargo and 76.4 million aircraft movements."

I have no idea what it means to be an ACI airport, nor if this includes military flights, but even with those figures that is like a 0.00000065 chance that'll happen on the flight you are one (assuming those earlier numbers were passenger flights, although I assume shipping flights would play a role). So combine those odds with the odds of someone being in the bathroom at that point in time (which obviously changes with the length of a particular flight) and I'd say it still qualifies as something that is very unlikely to happen.

Airfoilsguy: Most smokers know that if you unstop the drain it will create a suction that you can blow your smoke into and avoid the smoke alarm going off.

Seriously? That seems like a big risk to take just to have a cigarette. I'm a smoker and I wouldn't go that far.

Alzheimer's what: I'm not sure if the total number is taking into account both civilian and military aircraft decompression but I'd say given the amount of total flights WORLD WIDE in a year, 40 or 50 is pretty damn rare.

How many people die from terrorist attacks on planes every year?

When I take a dump in there (and I do it for spite of other passengers) you are going to need an oxygen mask.

In the unlikely event you open a gizmodo link from outside an English speaking country, you are screwed.

I call Bullshiat on one part of the article - It says that decompression incidents are not uncommon, and then states that there are 40 or 50 per year across Military and civilian flights - however, it fails to note that there are roughly 50,000 commercial flights worldwide per day, and who knows how many military flights per day.

50,000 X 365 = 18,250,000

50 out of Eighteen million and a quarter, that's not even close to common.

Nice piece if sensationalism from the the article though. Careful avoidance of any meaningful facts adds that touch of hysteria that the travelling public loves.

Everyone else has already said it - on the lottery winning chance it happens, being on the shiatter is the best place for you.

/Amazed this wasn't the Daily Mail

Talking completely out of my ass (no pun intended), but if it got to the point that oxygen masks drop and air pressure dropped - how long does one person have to get to a mask before they die? I always figured it was pretty quick. I guess my question is, while using a bathroom in rough turbulence, is one playing "Beat the clock"?

davidphogan: Seriously? That seems like a big risk to take just to have a cigarette. I'm a smoker and I wouldn't go that far.

Huffing the blue toilet liquid is a much easier way to satiate nicotine cravings.

FTA:
According to industry experts, decompression incidents are not uncommon on both civilian or military aircraft. In fact, about 40 to 50 rapid decompression accidents occur every year throughout the world

So...about 1 per week, among all flights worldwide, civilian and military.
Sounds pretty uncommon to me.

How many incidents are/have there been of a terrorist trying to use the O2 in the rest room to make a bomb?

95629: I never understood why the lavatory was so popular on airplanes. They're cramped and never cleaned. Yet the second the plane gets in the air people are lining up to use it... 30 minutes after you left the terminal.

I've done that exactly once. My arriving flight was late, no time to use the bathroom before hopping on the connector.

I could have probably waited another hour. Instead, I used it ASAP so that I could nap/snooze for the rest of the flight (6 hour flight IIRC).

I didn't realize that they had those masks in the bathrooms too.

Well, it makes sense. Oxygen is a very volatile and explosive gas, at least when it's not mixed with anything, and the bathroom on the plane is probably the only place where someone could go and have alone time with a source of it.

Wouldn't it be easy enough to have the oxygen masks sourced and controlled from a point far away from the bathroom itself? Sure there might be a slight delay in flow, but it would negate any chances of using the oxygen in explosives.

jingks: Wouldn't it be easy enough to have the oxygen masks sourced and controlled from a point far away from the bathroom itself? Sure there might be a slight delay in flow, but it would negate any chances of using the oxygen in explosives.

Your valid point must mean you're a terrorist.

Pollexabator: NEVER use the bathroom on the plane for a variety of reasons. I've flown dozens of times in the last decade and have used the bathroom exactly twice (damn you beer!). Even on flights of 4+ hours.

/sorry about your hamster bladder

Try 14 hours. I just can't hold it that long.

GnuUzir: Did you not realize from the two hours waiting at the airport that you might have to take a leak or a dump?

Manage your fluids and go in the terminal. I fly to Asia often enough and have only used the lav one time in 10 years and that was mostly for the novelty of it.

LrdPhoenix: Well, it makes sense. Oxygen is a very volatile and explosive gas,

For the record, oxygen is NOT an explosive gas, not in the slightest.

But combustion reactions require a fuel source, and an oxidizing compound (like oxygen). The more oxygen, the faster the combustion.

/heavily simplified

/oxygen doesn't make explosions, it makes explosions better.

Godamnlimey: Oxygen is neither volatile or explosive especially by itself ,it's not even flammable

What, you mean I can't set the air on fire? There goes my evil genius world domination plans.

The only reason I would be in an airplane's bathroom is to join the Mile High club. So if I'm going to die, atleast I will go with a smile.

Have you met my roommate, I always use an oxygen mask, to prevent not dying

Whenever I do an ocean crossing I make a point to take a dump in the airplane toilet - I like to pretend I'm making a bombing run over some German city in a B-17. Plus, when else do you get the opportunity to take a 550mph poo?

Lone Stranger: Beat me to it.

/Sorry I missed that

La Fee Verte: Have you met my roommate, I always use an oxygen mask, to prevent not dying

Amateur. I wear the life preserver during the flight.

If you are in the toilet, YOU ARE GOING TO DIE

Good enough for Elvis, good enough for me.

/Got nothing.

Robo Beat: Plus, when else do you get the opportunity to take a 550mph poo?

Whenever I get Taco Bell.

Do you time your walk to the loo to use the one the attractive girl just came out of?

RoosterCogburn: Talking completely out of my ass (no pun intended), but if it got to the point that oxygen masks drop and air pressure dropped - how long does one person have to get to a mask before they die? I always figured it was pretty quick. I guess my question is, while using a bathroom in rough turbulence, is one playing "Beat the clock"?

At 40,000ft, you'll lose consciousness in about 20s, probably without much warning, which is why they tell people to put their own masks on before helping anyone else. After about five minutes, brain cells will start dying, and the damage will probably be fatal after about ten minutes.

Time of useful consciousness (new window).

95629: I never understood why the lavatory was so popular on airplanes.

If you have gas or farts in the middle of your gut then due to the lower pressure these expand when the plane gains altitude.

For a lot of people this makes it feel like they really gotta go.