pilot going for a pee.....

[PAUL500]

On a ryanair flight back from Barcelona to Birmingham yesterday, cruising nicely along about an hour into the flight, then a slightly panicked sounding steward announces seatbelts on for no obvious reason.

I look up and he is hovering around the cockpit door looking pensive.

After 5 mins out comes one of the pilots from the loo next to the cockpit door, picks up the handset talks into it and the cockpit door opens and in he goes, the steward looks visibly relieved then starts flogging crisps again.

Is it that much of an issue these days if only one pilot is alone in the cockpit? surely is one of them has dodgy plans it would be easy enough for him to clobber the other one anyway.

[IforB]

Every airline has its own procedure for this. Some ask that a cabin crew member sits in the cockpit to ensure there are two people in the cockpit at all times. Others don't.

Why anyone would sound "panicky" over someone going for a slash doesn't make sense. It happens many times a day or do you think that pilots have bladders the size of carry-on bags?

[montymoo]

The reality is most of the cabin crew will know very little about the actual flying, If they are new they may well be nervous about going into the flight deck, lots of new noises and not wanting to disturb the remaining pilot.. There certainly are some who will know what is going on, the more experienced and the ones who are trying to become pilots themselves.

From a safety point of view, i dont think the cabin crew would know what selections the pilots where making on the mcp, but rather i think they are there to open the door to let the other pilot back in, that way the remaining pilot wont need to leave his seat, and someone in the flight deck can have a look through the peephole and make sure it is ok to open up.

[Hugo a Gogo]

have you all already forgotten why this rule was brought in?
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=14...

[surveyor]

There was a instant reaction after the Germanwings to never leave a pilot on his own in the cockpit. Some operators in Europe are dropping the requirement.

There is a discussion about this at 1hr 38 mins on this link. https://youtu.be/aiAHt447F6c

The two gents are Captains for a legacy US carrier, and a European carrier (they don't say who - but it's not easy to work our) - and a few more pilots are in the audience. also.

PS - they can unlock the door from the controls....

[drdino]

Ryanair's dance when either of the two at the pointy end need to go to the loo is quite amusing. It usually starts with the seatbelt sign/bong being turned on out of the blue and a quite hasty announcement over the PA, accompanied by cabin crew either standing guard or using the trolley as a physical cabin between the cockpit's door and the rest of the cabin or a combination of both; after all these requirements have been met, the person in need exits the deck and has his/her pitstop. Thing is, if this entire charade is aimed towards making sure that no-one from the cabin enters the cockpit when the door is unlocked/ajar, shouldn't it be a bit more discrete?

[Krikkit]

Don't some aircraft have a secondary door from the cockpit into the forward loo?

[Chuck328]

El Al do i think.

[Dogwatch]

Ooops! Sorry Madam!

[PAUL500]

Thanks for the update gents, it was a bit comical, I had wondered if this was the new thing since the Germanwings incident