American 149 - Toilet Diversion

[citabriapilot]

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/AAL149/history/20090216/1411Z/KIAD/KLAX

Heard AA149 this morning asking for a divert to ORD for a toilet that was in a continuous "flush mode". Asked to hold to burn off gas, declared an emergency and still said they would land 20,000 pounds over weight. Wow.

Is there not a CB to shut off the toilet? Would that toilet just overflow and cause more problems? Just curious as to why that would cause a diversion... Was funny to hear an emergency declared for a toilet with a mind of its own.

 

[Whine Lover]

Hang on, Fellow Flight-Infoers...Gotta' get a Brewski and snacks for this one!


YK-WTF?

 

[tired_pilot]

fire hazard

A continuosly flushing lav is bad news, the whole flushing mechanism/motor can overheat and catch fire, as crazy as it sounds ive seen it first hand in the 727

 

[citabriapilot]

That's what we figured. It was such a strange thing to hear so we perked up and listened to the whole thing pan out. We assumed it could cause a motor or whatever in the lav to burn up.

 

[LJ45]

why not pull the breaker??

 

[FLYLOW22]

What a crappy emergency.
:0

 

[Jim Smyth]

Many years ago I flew 135 Charter out of O'hare. We flew all the Chicago news crews at the time when a hot story broke. We got the call and launched 4 planes and all raced over to I believe it was either Columbus or Cincinnati. A DC-9 was there smoking on the runway and the top half of the airplane was gone. Seems the cause was a lav motor that stuck in the continuous on mode. Since these are short duty motors that need to cycle it didn't take long before it started on fire. From the time the Captain was notified and diverted and landed it was like 8 minutes total if I remember right. Doesn't take long. Better to be on the ground with nothing going on than in the air with a fire. Look at how fast Valuejet went into the everglades with a fire in the cargo hold.

Any fire is bad..........very bad! I always make a mental note and also jot down a quick reference in my jeps where the lav motor circuit breaker is located. Cause when you need it you wont find it quickly............Murphys law!

Also another good toilet diversion is when the ground pounders forget to empty the lav and you leave on a long flight. Usually half way across the country you get the call that the lavs are overflowing. Kinda embarrasing to divert for this but it does happen.

 

[crxpilot]

why not pull the breaker??

good question.............anyone?

 

[The Prussian]

What a crappy emergency.
:0

...and flush with excre...er...ah...excitement..

 

[Golden Falcon]

What a crappy emergency.
:0

What an excrement thread though

 

[tyuwerty]

Air Canada Flight 797

On June 2, 1983(1983-06-02), the aircraft developed an in-flight fire behind the washroom that spread between the outer skin and the inner decor panels, filling the plane with noxious, toxic smoke. The spreading fire also burned through crucial electrical cables that knocked out most of the instrumentation in the cockpit, forcing the plane to divert to an alternate landing field. Ninety seconds after the plane landed and the doors were opened, enough oxygen was available for the fire to flashover, killing the 23 remaining passengers left on board.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Canada_Flight_797

 

[Stifler's Mom]

Early morning....Emergency....Broken Lavatory.

After a few cups of coffee, and reading the time honored DIARRHIA IN A FREIGHTER thread, I can see a secondary emergency "brewing."

 

[airplane wizard]

sucks when sh#t like that happens.

 

[goodgig]

What? No one linked this thread to this:
http://dir.salon.com/story/tech/col.../index.html?source=search&aim=/tech/col/smith

 

[LR25]

Why not land overwieght, nothing wrong with that, instead going in circles while the LAV motor catches on fire.

Reminds me of the Delta 767 that was burning on the runway and the crew decides not to evacuate with a full crowd on board, stupid.

 

[LJ45]

sounds like they need better motors, ones with a thermal shutoff.

 

[smarc130]

Depends...what the QRH says,...do not reset lav flush motor C/B in my jet, dont see why not give it a pull(1) and leave it if you have a runaway lav?? makes common sense to me, but that doesn't count for much these days...

 

[say again]

Sh!t happens, ya just never know where or when!! It's better to take care of a problem vs. explaining why you didn't.

 

[Papa Woody]

Coffee is a diarrhetic....that's why we have lav's in the first place.

Arabica beans are the worst....ever smell a sh!thouse in Arabia?

The New York Times used to be a lot thicker before Maxwell House came along. Now I barely make it to page A5.

I hate the klingers that cannot be washed away by the blue stuff.

 

[LJ45]

Depends...what the QRH says,...do not reset lav flush motor C/B in my jet, dont see why not give it a pull(1) and leave it if you have a runaway lav?? makes common sense to me, but that doesn't count for much these days...

reset and pull to deactivate for a dangerous malfunction or two different actions.