B-2 Stealth Bomber Pilots Fill 80 Cat-Litter Bags on 44-Hour Flight
B-2 stealth bomber pilots, including Colonel Melvin Deaile, reveal the high-altitude absurdity of using 80 cat-litter-filled piddle packs on a single 44-hour Afghanistan mission—can pilots pee midair, and why cat litter in military planes? “The kitty litter combines with it to make it more gel-like so it doesn’t leak,” Deaile explains, as $2 million jets become airborne feline restrooms.
Inside these spacious two-pilot cockpits, the Air Force’s elite hydrate relentlessly, drink a bottle of water an hour, and negotiate strict toilet etiquette (“only use the toilet for number twos”). Trending queries like 'how do pilots pee during long flights' and 'what do fighter pilots use as toilets' pale next to the reality: zip-lock bags packed with cat litter, sandwich hoards untouched, and a cockpit doubling as both a missile silo and feline litter box. “You will eat just because it gives you something to do,” admits General Basham, who packed eight sandwiches and ate none.
For one record-breaking 44-hour stealth mission, pilots went through 80 piddle packs filled with cat litter—transforming the world’s most expensive bomber into the world’s highest-flying litter tray.
