Radio-Equipped Toilet In Cockpit Is Latest Idea

Airbus continues to push out ever-more outlandish proposals to see its concept of extended Minimum Crew Operations (eMCO), which is nothing more than a euphemism for single-pilot operations, become reality for widebody aircraft filled with passengers during cruise flight.

The company is hoping that eMCO will be an attractive cost-saving measure for airlines which would no longer require three or four pilots on  long- and ultra-long-haul routes.

Currently, two pilots are on duty on the flight deck at any one time with the other one or two sleeping in the crew rest area. Under eMCO, just one pilot would be alone in the cockpit for up to three hours while the other pilot sleeps.

Not surprisingly, pilot unions around the world are alarmed and vehemently oppose such a concept based on safety of passengers and crewmembers. In the runup to implementing this concept, Airbus and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) are throwing ideas against the wall in the hope that one of them sticks.

Given the fact that pilots are human and have human needs such as needing to use the toilet or deal with menstruation, EASA is tasked with researching ideas how to safely implement eMCO, including how to get around the fact that pilots might need to use the toilet.

One proposal by Airbus is to install an open toilet where the second jumpseat is located, and possibly have it equipped with a comms panel to enable the user to see and respond to the instruments or ATC while on the toilet.

Pilots attending the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) board of directors meeting were recently warned that, “They’re going to get rid of that second jumpseat behind the Captain and put a toilet; think about that for a minute; that’s no pilot ops.”

Other ideas floated by EASA include asking pilots to purposefully dehydrate themselves or requiring them to eat high-protein, low-residue diets to reduce their need to use the toilet. Going even further out on that limb, they also studied making pilots wear adult diapers or placing disposable urine collectors on the flight deck.

Thankfully, ALPA  and the other unions unanimously oppose any of these ideas. ALPA commented, “ALPA, along with global pilot unions, are united in opposition to this concept and have made it a priority to maintain at least two pilots on the flight deck to ensure the safety and security of all airline flight operations. No one understands better than a pilot that when an issue arises in flight, it is the pilots who are responsible for achieving a safe outcome.”

FMI:  www.alpa.org/