Pilots' lav use

[FL420]

At my airline, FA's are required to sit in the cockpit and lock the door while one of the pilots is using the lav. I think it's fun! It's nice to have a little break and see out the front windows every now and then!

In case you're wondering-- Two people are required to be in the cockpit at all times just in case the one pilot becomes incapacitated.

Same thing in my last airline. One pet peeve I had was the company was not training the FA's on how to use cockpit oxygen and communications equipment. In case of a rapid decompression while one of the pilots was in the lav, a FA unfamiliar with the equipment and its operation would become a liability instead of an asset.

I ended up doing OJT for many of our FA's(which I was happy to do) on material that should have been covered in their initial and recurrent training.

I have a few questions:
1. Are any of you asked to babysit a pilot in the cockpit without being trained on how to use the oxygen equipment?
2. How about use of the cockpit intercom to communicate with the pilot or the FA stations in the back?
3. With a handheld microphone or using the microphone in the O2 mask?
4. How about tuning a radio to the emergency frequency and communicating with ATC?
5. Have you been trained how to use the keypad to gain entry to the cockpit and place a mask on a pilot who is unconscious?
6. Have you been trained how to restrain a pilot at the controls who has suffered a seizure so he/she doesn't interfere with the controls?

Locked and hardened cockpit doors since 9/11 have made it imperative that both FA's and pilots be trained in and be prepared to use some different procedures re: incapacitated pilots and pressurization emergencies while one of the pilots is out of the cockpit.

 

[Gorilla]

I fly cargo, so we have the freedom to do pirouette's in the galley if we so choose.
So with pax flying, is it just a post 9/11 thing which requires pilots to contact the f/a's to let them "be ready" for you to come out?
Or like Gorilla said, he calls back and states "we're coming out, be ready"...
Be ready for what?

Good ol days: Just like you, one guy says "Gotta use the litterbox, be right back", drops back, is gone for 3 to 20 minutes, and reappears.

Post 9/11: Without being too specific, it requires adequate forward manning and coordination with the FA's, whose service comes to a grinding halt while the break is in progress.

Traffic forward and back through the CP door is VERY limited now. Most guys, myself included, do a pre-emptive bathroom break 5 minutes before pushback. Then there are guys with kidneys of iron, who drink 4 or 6 large coffees on a 5 hour flight and never once have to go. One's manliness is no longer related to 'size', it's now 'duration' :laugh:

 

[Draginass]

At my airline, FA's are required to sit in the cockpit and lock the door while one of the pilots is using the lav. I think it's fun! It's nice to have a little break and see out the front windows every now and then!

In case you're wondering-- Two people are required to be in the cockpit at all times just in case the one pilot becomes incapacitated.

Well, actually no. Since 9/11 the FAs have to play doorman and let the other pilot back in. No more just using your key to get back in.

 

[Midnight Flyer]

If you're just not able to leave the cockpit, you could always use the "little John" and for the female pilots out there, the "lady "j" adapter" haha. uke:

Guess it wouldn't work in the smaller cockpits like the rj's, dc-9's, etc..

http://www.sportys.com/acb/showdetl.cfm?DID=19&CATID=178&Product_ID=297&count=3&Pcount=6&DETAIL=1

 

[dingo222]

haha, the lady J. AKA the honey bucket, hehe. I showed one to my wife once and it took her an hour to figure it out! I pissed on myself just laughing