Inoperable Lavatory

Call MX and pull the circut breaker. Announce to the pax that the lav wont flush and put some bottled water in the lav to flush it down. IMO a non-flushing lav isn't worth telling people they have to hold it in or get creative with the barf bag.
 
staplegun said:
Uh, Doug, I know you've seen this before...

CAUTION: Flight crew reset of a tripped circuit breaker in flight is not
recommended unless specifically directed to do so in a
non-normal checklist.

Kevin
Click to expand...


Who said anything about resetting a tripped CB?







.
 
TonyC said:
Who said anything about resetting a tripped CB?







.
Click to expand...


Read the whole thing...


Flight crew cycling (pulling and resetting) of circuit breakers to clear non-normal conditions is not
recommended unless directed by a non-normal checklist.



Kevin
 
staplegun said:
Read the whole thing...


Flight crew cycling (pulling and resetting) of circuit breakers to clear non-normal conditions is not
recommended unless directed by a non-normal checklist.



Kevin
Click to expand...

Fair 'nuff.

Technically, you wouldn't be doing this, either. You'd be pulling the CB to make the lav motor stop running, and resetting it to make the motor run again. There would be no expectation of "clearing" a non-normal condition. You'd only expect to clear the bowl of its new deposit.







.
 
TonyC said:
You'd be pulling the CB to make the lav motor stop running, and resetting it to make the motor run again.
Click to expand...

Although it doesn't explicitly say so, the intent is to not use circuit breakers as switches, which is what you'd be doing here...



There would be no expectation of "clearing" a non-normal condition.
Click to expand...

Exactly why you should call maintenance...


Kevin
 
staplegun said:
Exactly why you should call maintenance...


Kevin
Click to expand...

And you'd be exactly correct.


However, I'd be inclined to get the passengers to their International Connection. Calling maintenance 5 minutes prior to push would eliminate that possibility. Pull the CB, press, and explain the situation to the Pax along with the level-off/seat belt sign OFF PA. They'll be glad to make the connection.






.
 
calcapt said:
I happen to believe that a working lav is a basic and expected necessity for paying passengers. Have ops call contract maintenance and get it fixed. No voting and no discussions. If a creative crew wants to try resetting a breaker or jiggling a handle - go for it. If that doesn't work, get it fixed right and then continue on your way. The pressure to go by others should have no bearing on a prudent and sound decision by the captain. There are no committees or democracies on my airplane.
Click to expand...


Can I request you to be my captain on every flight? :) I once was on a flight from SFO to LHR and about midway through the flight, we were down to one working lav in business class, and one in coach - it was hell. I have to say that it wasn't the captain's fault because most of them (but not all of them) were working when we took off from SFO. It was miserable, and most certainly miserable for the people seated by the only working lavs! Nothing like a line of people standing by your seat for the entire flight. The stench was not pleasant as well.

I agree with you Calcapt, paying passengers deserve better.
 
flywithUS said:
My dad knew this guy, and talked to him about it. What he told him is exactly what should have been done. There is NO need to divert. Instead of wasting thousands and thousands of dollars, let the woman #### in the toilet and just don't flush it. When you land in MCI, have somebody clean it out. Sure it won't be fun, but why cause such a big delay and waste so much money just to avoid having a turd sitting in the john for half the flight?
Click to expand...

Sure leave it for CS or mx to deal with.:mad: I'd hand you some gloves and a baggy and say here you go captain!
 
Since the toilet is stuck flushing why not trying to rework the button for a few seconds. If this does not work, try your circuit breaker if you can find it. If it stops the madness, then you've got your golden ticket.

Your flight attendant has a new job in flight.

If this does not fix the problem, I don't think women will have a problem with the hover technique. I've seen many of them do this at concerts, and other crazy times, so if they have to go bad enough they'll adapt.

is the door closed yet it's time for push back.
 
I like what somebody previously said....

First be honest and tell the people that there is a lavaratory problem, and we're sending maintenance to take a look at it, in the meanwhile it might be a good idea to visit the aiport restroom. If there is a quick fix great, if not and keeping in mind there are alot of people with connections I'd imagine they just want to get there.

The way I see it.
1)Some will be more inconvenienced by missing their connection
2) Others will be more miffed about having an inop lav.

But, option two can be somewhat taken care of with a bottle of water to flush #1 as necessary (for those who can't hold it).

And I'd imagine the majority as well could hold it for a 2.5 hour flight. The few that can't can use the bottle of water trick. Those with the sh#ts (how many could there be?) maybe shouldn't join us.

I'm not really down with the "push in the circuit breaker" routine. The company gives pretty clear guidance about resetting circuit breakers, god forbid anything happened while trying that....
 
FlyChicaga said:
You have just completed boarding on the aircraft, and are finishing the last minute paperwork before departing on a red-eye flight. All passengers are on board, and the aircraft is full. While finishing initializing the FMS, a passenger comes up to the flight attendant and says that the only lavatory on board is "continuously flushing." You go back to check, and it is in fact running non-stop.

You are at an outstation, and it's five minutes to departure time. The flight will be about two and a half hours takeoff to touchdown, and contract maintenance will take a while to come out and just look at the problem, if they can even fix it. You can MEL the lavatory, but that means no toilet for the whole flight. While you are thinking, the gate agent keeps reminding you that half the aircraft is connecting to an international destination without a second flight for the day.

What do you do?
Click to expand...

If you contacted company/maintenance then your hands are tied you need to MEL the Lav. If this requires a (M) maintenance procedure you will need to wait for maintenance, if not then the flight crew can MEL and placard the LAV inoperative themselves. This is acceptable on the Saab.

The alternate option is that you don't call company and depart, while keeping in mind that the toilet all of a sudden broke enroute.
If all that is happening is that the toilet is continuously flushing you can always pull/reset the breaker for the LAV see if that fixes it, but either way it should create an unsafe inflight situation.

Main point here is once you contact maintenance, the issue needs to be addressed. Otherwise you leave yourself open.
 
All depends on the airplane. Some a/c cannot be dispatched with an inoperable lav. Looks like the initial question had to do with a smaller plane. The a/c MEL will guide you on how to proceed. On my plane I can go with one lav but not the front lav inop depending on length of flight. I would not go with all lavs inop under any circumstance. As for cycling circuit breakers that is a very dangerous thing to do.

D
 
averyrm said:
Why is cycling a breaker very dangerous?
Click to expand...

It tripped or a reason, most likely too much current going thru it. When resetting you could possibly hold it on when it trys to trip again, allowing the current downstream to what ever it was wired to, and a big bang taking place.

There is a video somewhere on an electrical panel doing this and it gets blown off the wall. I think it was a UL video.
 
I'm talking about pulling the breaker then pushing it back in, not holding it in after it blew. Hence, "cycling". The only negative for this I can think of is prematurely wearing the breaker out.
 
averyrm said:
I'm talking about pulling the breaker then pushing it back in, not holding it in after it blew. Hence, "cycling". The only negative for this I can think of is prematurely wearing the breaker out.
Click to expand...

99% of the time there is no problem with it. One potential problem is that CB panels are always hard to reach in flight, and if you pull 2C9 instead of 2C8 accidentally, that may be a problem. The lav circuit breaker may be next to the "wings fall off" breaker...you never know.

I know that I personally do not have enough in-depth knowledge of the airplane circuitry to know if pulling one (seemingly innocuous) breaker is going to cause a larger problem. On the ground I have no problem with pulling a breaker or two, especially if it solves a "known problem." In flight, I get a little nervous when captains start pulling things.

G
 
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