# how do airplanes dispose of human waste? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 12, 2000, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-airplanes-dispose-of-human-waste/6111 "2000-01-12T23:03:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2000, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-airplanes-dispose-of-human-waste/6111/1 "2000-01-12T23:03:00Z")
The article below, from Reuters, says that a man in Spain was almost killed by frozen human waste ejected from an airplane. Is it true that airplanes just eject the human waste into the atmosphere? Say it ain’t so! > [@](#): > > Wednesday January 12 7:49 AM ET > Narrow Escape From Human Excrement Ice Ball! > MADRID (Reuters) - A Spanish man narrowly escaped injury when a nine-pound ball of ice – thought to be frozen human excrement ejected from a passing aircraft – fell on his car near the southern city of Seville, authorities said. > > The man was about to enter the vehicle when a friend stopped him for a chat. The ball of ice, measuring eight inches in diameter, then plummeted out of a cloudless sky and crushed the car’s hood. > > An official at Spain’s Meteorology Institute said investigators were examining a fragment of the iceball which was collected by police at the scene. * * * Quand les talons claquent, l’esprit se vide. Maréchal Lyautey ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2000, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-airplanes-dispose-of-human-waste/6111/2 "2000-01-12T23:10:00Z")
It ain’t so. Commercial airliners store waste in holding tanks which are pumped out while on the ground during normal ground servicing. While it is possible for the external valve to fail and a leak to occur, airplanes do **not** just “eject the human waste into the atmosphere”. * * * “Drink your coffee! Remember, there are people sleeping in China.” Dennis Matheson — [dennis@mountaindiver.com](mailto:dennis@mountaindiver.com) Hike, Dive, Ski, Climb — [www.mountaindiver.com](http://www.mountaindiver.com) ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2000, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-airplanes-dispose-of-human-waste/6111/3 "2000-01-12T23:35:00Z")
Even if you live nowhere near a military target… you can still be attacked by an icy BM! (Didn’t this question come up within the past three weeks?) Needless to say, the holding tank answer is correct. - Rick ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2000, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-airplanes-dispose-of-human-waste/6111/4 "2000-01-12T23:42:00Z")
And I though that “crappy airline” was just a metaphor… A few years ago, some “blue ice” (frozen, blue-colored water from an airplane’s toilet) hit a home in my state and damaged the roof. The evening news even showed pictures of the offending ice and the damage it caused (it must have been a slow news day). Also, I’ve heard several stories like it. I’m sure that these things are probably the result of (non-human) leaks, but it’s not a rare event. * * * –It was recently discovered that research causes cancer in rats. ---
**Author:** ![Cheese\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Cheese\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheese_Head)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2000, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-airplanes-dispose-of-human-waste/6111/5 "2000-01-13T16:33:00Z")
I thought I heard of at least one person killed by falling waste from an airplane. I can’t site any reference though. Maybe it was an urban legend. ---
**Author:** ![NightGirl44](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e68b1a/32.png) [@NightGirl44](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NightGirl44)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2000, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-airplanes-dispose-of-human-waste/6111/6 "2000-01-13T16:54:00Z")
You know that strong sucking sound the toilet on the aircraft makes when you flush it? You think that is just the fluid going into the holding tank at 30,000 feet? Ever take a peek into the bowl and catch a glimpse of light when you flush? NOW, you know. Not really. The gunk goes into holding tanks, though now and then they leak or else, if too full, can overflow. Trains now, up until a short time ago, used to dump their tanks right on the tracks as they moved. (Gives a whole new meaning to Hobos riding the rails UNDER the carriages, doesn’t it?) Some years ago, JUST before motor homes became the in thing for senior citizens to tool around in _slowly_ across the USA, I saw a device one could buy for the holding tank. It hooked into the hot exhaust tank and as you tooled merrily around at 30 in a 50 mph zone in some city not your own, you turned a valve and the liquid crap flowed into the pipe, was incinerated by exhaust heat and blown out onto the street as fine ash. So, just think, if you ever got behind one of those slow monsters years ago and impatiently tooted your horn for them to speed up and was rewarded by a big burst of smoke from their exhaust pipe, you were probably being shit on and didn’t know it. ---
**Author:** ![Stephen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/96bed5/32.png) [@Stephen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephen)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2000, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-airplanes-dispose-of-human-waste/6111/7 "2000-01-13T17:04:00Z")
It is almost certainly UL (though a search of SNOPES turned up zilch), but the story usually goes… trans-ocean flights wait until they’re over the ocean to dump. Temps at high altitude cause dump to freeze. Roofs get damaged and greedy people store icy blue meteors in their freezer, when onshore winds carry the frozen dump (icy BM) back over land. * * * Stephen [Stephen’s Website](http://stephen.fathom.org) Satellite Hunting 1.1.0 visible satellite pass prediction shareware available for download at [Satellite Hunting](http://stephen.fathom.org/sathunt.html) ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2000, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-airplanes-dispose-of-human-waste/6111/8 "2000-01-13T17:10:00Z")
Nothing on [Urban legends dot com](http://www.urbanlegends.com/) about deaths from airplane waste either. * * * If you can’t convince them, confuse them. Harry S. Truman ---
**Author:** ![Guy\_Incognito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guy_incognito/32/3920_2.png) [@Guy\_Incognito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guy_Incognito)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2000, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-airplanes-dispose-of-human-waste/6111/9 "2000-01-13T17:19:00Z")
## To hear some frequent flyers tell it, it usually gets served as the in-flight meal. “I know a place where dreams get crushed, hopes are smashed, but that ain’t much.” ---
**Author:** ![douglips](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@douglips](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/douglips)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2000, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-airplanes-dispose-of-human-waste/6111/10 "2000-01-13T17:33:00Z")
Stephen, I totally didn’t understand what you said about people putting blue meteors in their freezer. Huh? ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2000, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-airplanes-dispose-of-human-waste/6111/11 "2000-01-13T17:33:00Z")
**Nightgirl** says > [@](#): > > Trains now, up until a short time ago, used to dump their tanks right on the tracks as they moved. Still happens, as I verified _de visu_ on my trip to Switzerland last week. That’s why I was wondering if airliners dump their waste in the atmosphere when, for example, they’re over the ocean at a height of 10,000 meters. But it seems from the posts here that the holding tanks are emptied on the ground. ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2000, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-airplanes-dispose-of-human-waste/6111/12 "2000-01-13T17:53:00Z")
> [@](#): > > That’s why I was wondering if airliners dump their waste in the atmosphere when, for example, they’re over the ocean at a height of 10,000 meters. But it seems from the posts here that the holding tanks are emptied on the ground. No one sees the underside of a train. Airlines like their planes to look nice and so don’t want to have long blue “skid marks” on the bottom. * * * “Drink your coffee! Remember, there are people sleeping in China.” Dennis Matheson — [dennis@mountaindiver.com](mailto:dennis@mountaindiver.com) Hike, Dive, Ski, Climb — [www.mountaindiver.com](http://www.mountaindiver.com) ---
**Author:** ![Stephen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/96bed5/32.png) [@Stephen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephen)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2000, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-airplanes-dispose-of-human-waste/6111/13 "2000-01-14T02:41:00Z")
Well Douglips, the way I first heard the story… A couple living someplace coastal in Florida was startled when something came crashing through their livingroom ceiling. On first inspection, it appeared to be a frosty chunk of meteor. Anxious to get rich, they popped the melon sized ‘meteor’ into the freezer. Eventually, they took it out for a closer look. After wiping the frost away, they marveled at the beautiful blue hue, until they began identifying bits of toilet paper and other unpleasantries. * * * Stephen [Stephen’s Website](http://stephen.fathom.org) Satellite Hunting 1.1.0 visible satellite pass prediction shareware available for download at [Satellite Hunting](http://stephen.fathom.org/sathunt.html)