Was reading above news item on detecting extra-terrestrial bacteria and as a warning againat false positive results one scientist mentioned the fact that airplanes routinely spray their liquid waste matter into the air.
"Another possible form of contamination could also be human waste,” Genge said. “Passenger aircraft fly at 10 miles altitude and eject human waste into the atmosphere. A fine spray of such liquid released into the atmosphere at high altitude will form tiny ice grains containing bacteria, (and) these will become widely dispersed.”
Are airplanes really spraying urine all over us as they pass? I thought this was collected and pumped off the airplane. If so I’ll never look at a plane’s contrail the same way again.
There are plenty of reports of “blue ice” dropping from airplanes as a chunk, that crashes through roofs, etc.
First off I don’t know of any passeneger planes that fly at over 52,000 feet (10 miles) except maybe the Concorde. Most hang in the 30,000 - 40,000 foot range.
Second, I believe planes used to dump their crap way back when but no longer do so today. It’s collected during the normal servicing of the plane. They could dump that stuff for some sort of emergency perhaps but beyond that why would they bother? I don’t think they’d save any money this way as they have to service the toilet anyway when the plane lands and yet they could find environmentalists (indeed most people) majorly pissed at them if they found them dumping that crap (pun intended).
This could be an UL but I did hear one funny story relating to this.
Supposedly people in an area near Chicago kept finding blue ice/slush in their yards for awhile. Not knowing what it was they called authorities and upon investigation they figured it was toilet ‘water’ from the chemical toilets on an airplane. Upon further investigation they discovered that a pilot had a regular route to Chicago and that his ex-wife lived in a landing path. Apparently the pilot would ‘bomb’ his wife’s house whenever he flew over.
I have no cites for that and it does have UL written all over it but it’s still funny.
I remember seeing (and smelling) the sewage truck service the plane while waiting at the gate. Having 2 ways of dumping waste would make no sense. How much money could be saved by dumping a few gallons of sewage mid-air.
It’s a big job to wash a transport category aircraft. I’d think they’d want to avoid jettisoning and waste, so as to keep it clean.
RE: The “blue ice” in Chicago. I remember hearing the first half of that story back in the '80s. The way I heard it was that a valve had been stuck open and the toilet material was leaking out of it. As it is very cold at high altitudes, it froze; then it broke off as the aircraft descended into warmer air. When this first happened, people didn’t know what it was, and some put it in their freezers. There was some speculation that it came from a UFO.
As for the second half, about the pilot bombing his ex’s house, I’d say that’s an Urban Legend. First, the pilot would have to know that his human waste valve was open and take off knowing that his aircraft is not in an approved configuration for flight. If he did this intentionally it could cost him his job. Second, he’d have to know how much waste would accumulate before it dropped off, and at what temperature. He’d have to have a day that had the right temperature at the right place (over his ex’s house) at the right altitude. It seems far-fetched if you ask me.
So yes, there were “blue blobs” found in people’s yards, and the people didn’t know what they were. But no, AFAIK there was never an intentional bombardment.
any. Sorry.
I had never really thought abou this, but it doesn’t make any sense that the water water would go outside… but why do the toilets in ariplanes make that fierce WHOOSH! sound when they flush?
It sure sounds like the water is going outside…
Anyone know how these toilets work?
I’ve heard some stories about guys who were sucked by airplane toilets. Maybe that’s the ticket.
The flushing sounds may be due to air from the cabin, which is pressurized, blowing into an unpressurized waste tank. Has anyone here used a plane toilet while the plane is on the ground? Does it sound the same?
A similar concept appeared in Ken Kesey’s brilliant but demented novel Sailor Song. The hero had been in prison because . . . he’d been working as a crop duster pilot; the chemicals he’d been absorbing caused a genetic birth defect in his baby who died. His mind went around the bend when that happened. He filled his plane’s tanks with poop from a septic tank, then flew over an amusement park and sprayed all the people on the roller coasters.
The storage tanks are supposed to be drained while the plane is on the ground. The “honey wagon” hooks up a hose to an external valve for servicing. The valve can sometimes leak, leading to the formation of “blue ice” that has been explained quite thoroughly already. A big enough chunk can be a real problem - there’s at least on case of a 727 having an engine tear itself off the plane from imbalance loads after ingesting a large piece.
The toilets are pressure-flushed to ensure there is no residue to send odors into the cabin, and it’s easier for the tank to be unpressurized. That’s why the “whoosh”, which you will also hear on a ship’s head - there, the pressure helps drive the waste into the tanks.
The 777 was designed to have all the toilets drain to a single valve to shorten the work for the honey wagon operator. Other planes have a separate holding tank for each lavatory or group of lavatories. The Boeing people like to say that the 777 is the first airplane with its own sewer system.
Old airliners from the '20’s, like the Ford Trimotor and the Stinson Detroiter, had seats with holes in them and a good view of the ground below.
I understand Amtrak recently got sued by some fishermen who were in a boat below a railroad bridge, and got a shower when the train crew decided to dump the tanks.
I would think another reason for the pressure flush is to minimize the amount of water required.
So…
Even though the Cold War is over, and we don’t worry about Soviet inter-continental ballistic missiles any more… you can still be hit with an icy B.M.
[rim shot]
- Rick
I remember a news story in Atlanta from many years back about a family that had blue ice land in their yard in fairly warm weather. The news station that reported it had dubbed it “Stinky the Snowman”. It had been caused by a leaky valve on a Delta jet.
“I understand Amtrak recently got sued by some fishermen who were in a boat below a railroad bridge, and got a shower when the train crew decided to dump the tanks.”
While that sort of thing definitely used to happen – there used to be signs in train washrooms warning passengers not to flush while the trains were in a station – I seriously doubt that incident was recent if it involved Amtrak. The EPA (or maybe FRA, I don’t recall) mandated retention toilets for all passenger trains some years back.
I know about this issue because Amtrak has a persistent shortage of sleeping and dining cars, and people are always pointing out that they have dozens of old rail cars they inherited from the old passenger railways, the so-called “heritage” cars. But Amtrak can’t put the heritage cars into service without first replacing their old toilets that dumped onto the tracks with retention toilets. Since that conversion is expensive, they’ve only done it to just enough heritage cars to supplement the modern cars they bought and maintain the present schedule of trains with very few spare cars.
Bricker
Ha ha heh hah hah hah HAH HAHHHH—
gurk…
blourgh.
jb, who laughed himself to death