Alan Peaford
When you are spending $35 million on the most beautiful business aircraft in the skies today, you want to be sure that the manufacturer has concentrated on every little detail- down to the smallest cabin on the aircraft.
And on the Gulfstream V, making its debut at Dubai '97, that design attention included the lavatory.
The GV is fitted with a vacuum lavatory - the first to be included on a business aircraft - based on the system used on commercial aircraft, but redesigned to meet Gulfstream's stringent design and safety standards.
Safety? Safety in the washroom?
"That's right," says chief customer engineer Ed Flinn. "There have been some dreadful cases of obese passengers flushing the lavatory while sitting on the seat and suffering a prolapsed colon. There has been at least one fatality and several horrible injuries."
Gulfstream engineers were tasked with the job of making sure this couldn't happen on GV and so designed the flush in a way that the seat cover had to lowered in order for the flush button to be reached.
The vacuum lavatory has other advantages for the corporate jet, says Flinn. "There is less water needed and there are fewer odours than when you recycle chemicals. It is better all round."
The lavatory is operated by a pump below 5,500m (18,000 ft) and by natural forces above.
Source: Flight Daily News
