This is an absolute game changer. Pilots able to tinkle mid dogfight.
Believe it or not, pilots relieving themselves mid-flight has become a national security issue.
For decades, many military pilots who heard nature’s call — particularly those who fly fighters and especially women in those planes — faced an unpleasant reality: use the decades-old ‘piddle packs’ or other devices designed for mid-flight peeing, hold it the whole way, or risk dangerous dehydration by drinking so little water that you never need to go.
But a new device, dubbed the Advanced Inflight Relief Universal System or AIRUS, developed through an Air Force innovation incubator program, may make it easier going for, well, going.
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For as long as there have been planes in the sky, pilots in single-seat aircraft like fighter jets or others with ejection seats have had to unbuckle their harnesses and shimmy up from their seats to find a position that allowed for relief. In rare occasions, the urge to go has led to fatal accidents, including one A-10 pilot who failed to re-strap himself properly into his parachute after using a device to pee, only to be forced to eject later in the flight.
