I was going to leave this thread on track to talk about Cafe's that are open but since we're on the subject.....
I have long had a frequency issue for peeing which culminated in treatment for Prostate Cancer a couple of years back (I took the HT/RT route). To be honest I'm pretty well back where I was before the treatment and need to be sure I can have a pee about every hour to ninety mins. Funnily enough I rarely have a problem whilst airborne but as soon as I clear the runway I'm desperate!
As mentioned above I tried the excellent Gel bags sold by some outdoor shops but found that ensuring a downward slope from the seat wasn't always easy so flow back was sometimes an issue and my wife wrote them off immediately as not being of use when seated. She insists women have to squat (for technical reasons).
I've tried the leg bags and condom style catheters that glider pilots advocate (in fact I get them free on prescription) but again the fact that you have to start the flow 'uphill' whilst seated puts pressure on the fit and after one or two 'top ups' the safety of the seal around 'you know what' is not guaranteed.
The only thing that I've found really successful is the 380ml Lucozade bottle with the wider neck (no, I'm not boasting) that will take two average inputs without any problem.
As for emptying in flight I tried this recently from my Archer and found that with the neck just protruding into the airflow from the DV window and crossed controls giving a skid to the right the contents were sucked out into a mist instantly. In fact I nearly lost the whole bottle such was the suction.
How did I learn to skid when emptying such things out of an aircraft.......
.... back in 1970 I was managing a flying club when a Gentleman arrived asking to hire an aircraft as a passenger. He wanted to scatter the ashes of his best friend who'd been a Lancaster pilot in the war. His last wish was to be scattered above cloud over the North Sea.
We dispatched said Gent with an instructor in a Cessna 150 to complete said task and they returned about an hour later with the passenger a little upset so we bid him a fond farewell. As I turned my attention to the aircraft it was apparent that the smart red and white paint supplied by Cessna was now coated with a grey goo from the cabin window to the fin. Guess who's job it was to clean it off......
It wouldn't have been so bad but none of us knew what to use so we started with petrol..... Wrong! That just made it worse. A simple hose down with water was all that was needed.
At least the lesson came good some fifty years later overhead Birmingham last month....
FLYER Club Member
