Fly Navy said:
Ok I've pondered the shitting maneuver in the jet, and I don't see how it can be done. How do you go from strapped in with a G-suit, torso harness, and flight suit, (and SV-2 in T-45 case), to being able to take a dump? That's not even physically possible!
It's not a check in the block anyone wants, but with long endurance hops and stomach or the tract irritation that leads to the lower "exit" portal will not be denied.
So there I was exiting Iraq near end of Desert Storm as wingman to a sister squadron F-14. As we "fenced out", they never called for a frequency switch. We came out of combat spread and joined into parade to use hand signals to request the freq they were on. The pilot pointed a thumb to the rear cockpit and shook his head. The RIO was slightly hunched over so I took comm lead and got us switched over to tanker freq and proceeded on our way. We were curious and climbed up a bit and saw that the RIO had unstrapped and shed his flightsuit and was using his helmet bag in manner described in earlier post. We left him to his privacy and saw nothing about it.
Later, on a subsequent man-up I saw one of their jets had two outhouses painted on it; one for the incident we witnessed (at least partially) and another when the pilot was striken and had to endure the pain until he cold hold it no more. Unable to execute the RIO's solution he let nature take its course. That cockpit and his clothes were a literal "mess". Had to replace the meager ejection seat cushion and disinfect the cockpit afterwards, which was a lot of work for the Plane Captains (who retaliated with the outhouse markings).
There have been other tales of emergency pull forwards for "impending sphincter valve failure" and dry suits that contained the hazardous waste. These stories are told, but most pity the principals knowing it could have been them and "there, but for the grace of God, go I".
This post has been for information only for the curious mind(s) who pondered such an emergency....hopefully we can move on and not stay ont he subject...Now, if you were in a P-3, your only worry would be if there was a waiting line at the head....you could always hang out in the kitchen while you waited though.....just kidding!