I fly fairly often and have noticed that there is an access panel located above and behind the toilet in an airplane bathroom. I assume this is for access to plumbing for the toilet itself, but I have no idea what is back there since I have never tried to open it myself.
One reason I have never tried to open it is because I don’t carry tools with me when I travel, but also because there is usually security tape that would show if someone opened the panel in flight.
My question is, why would anyone try to open the panel who wasn’t authorized to do so? Are the airlines or the FAA concerned about someone planting a bomb or other kind of device there? Are they concerned about someone messing with the plumbing and causing a flood? Is it someone’s job to periodically check during the flight to see if someone has tampered with that panel?
There are lots of compartments on a plane that someone could open if they had the right tools that don’t have security tape on them.
In the movie version of the life of con man Frank Abagnale, (entitled “Catch Me If You Can”) Frank escapes authorities by going into the bathroom, dislodging some panels, and then hiding out in the cargo area until the plane lands. He manages to walk free. So, that might be a contributing factor.
When I saw that movie I assumed that it was fiction and that you couldn’t get to anywhere via that access… but I guess it could have been based on truth.
It’s unlikely that there is enough room between the lavatory walls and the fuselage shell to move around in in any modern commercial aircraft, though I suppose it is possible. It’s just that cabin space is usually pretty optimized, so unused gaps along the walls seem unlikely, and in every green aircraft I’ve ever been in, the floors spanned the entire aircraft, thereby making it impossible to get below the lav unit and into any cargo or equipment bays under the floor.
In some business jets (Global Express, that I know of) the lavatory does have an access door into the luggage compartment, located aft of the cabin. The cargo door isn’t an emergency exit, however, and I’m not even sure it can be opened from the inside on some planes.
In larger commercial jets, I’d WAG that the panels give access to the plumbing for the lav unit but also to the cabling, hydraulic lines and wires that run the length of the plane, running through the frames and stringers and back to any tail-mounted engines, lights and control surfaces. There might also be pressure valves, involved in maintaining cabin pressure in that area.
I think it would be taped up to verify tampering because it’s the one area of the plane that passengers can spend time in while unobserved - something could be built, hidden or connected in there, in theory. Cabin crew do regularly check the lavatories to ensure that nothing’s been left behind, that no one’s been smoking, etc.
Too late to add - when I mean that there’s access from the lav to the cargo area in a business jet, I’m talking about a full or half door or panel from something that more closely resembles a household washroom than a commercial lavatory - in this layout, the cargo area is the last space on the right. Clearly the panels have a different function on commercial lav units!
Admittedly my very limited knowledge is with smaller planes, and I doubt you can effectively hide in the crew rest area if you tried I was thinking more about gaps between floor and frame - there are some access ports in the floor of many planes to get to the forward equipment bays, but none of them are through the lavatory!
It seems that this escape actually happened, due to a peculiarity of the design of the lavatory and service hatch on the BOAC VC-10; here’s someone’s explanationof it on another message board.
I was thinking more about gaps between floor and frame - there are some access ports in the floor of many planes to get to the forward equipment bays, but none of them are through the lavatory!
