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Boeing is planning to place the new 787 Dreamliner into service sometime in 2008. Included on this craft will be what you might call a dream bathroom for those commuters with a disability. Boeing partnered with the National Center for Accessible Transportation at Oregon State University and people with disabilities to come up with enhancements to the traditional airline mini-crapper: |
Boeing states that the craft will have larger overhead storage compartments, movable arm rests on the aisle seats, and larger windows. Of course a quote- “The 787 Dreamliner will set a new industry standard for accessibility on airplanes.” Hmmm, it’s hard to tell from the picture but the odds are you are not going to be able to get your wheelchair close enough to the sink so that you can use it. You may also fall off of the bowl reaching for the toilet paper. Of course that may not matter at all if your wheelchair is flying cargo. |
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Dream Toilet For Boeing 787 Dreamliner8 comments to Dream Toilet For Boeing 787 Dreamliner |
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The bathroom looks great but why would one need a wheelchair accessible bathroom on a plane when you cant fly on the plane in your wheelchair! Your chair must go cargo, so we dont need the extra room in the bathroom. I say to save some of that money and create a seat space to put a wheelchair passenger on the flight!
Absolutely agree. A space for a wheelchair in the passenger section would be cool but- I have a strong feeling that finding or developing a tie-down system that would keep the FAA happy would be a nightmare. And then there are powered chairs and scooters with batteries and with electronics that could potentially interfere with the crafts systems. I don’t think FAA is up for the batteries or the electronics being on board.
Are the aisles in business class wide enough to handle a 24 inch chair ? and can cabin area store chair on board ? Vital to allow chair to enter bath room ? please keep in mind that some of us have no legs
Just blogged about this too (and mentioned/linked your post)…feel free to stop by and check it out. I’ve found a pic that looks like a chair would fit down the aisles so maybe there’s a plan of some sort (feeling optimistic tonight!).
www dot karasheridan dot com
http://www.karasheridan.com
[...] Right about now I should be putting the final touches on my presentation and making sure my materials are accessible and ready for printing tomorrow..but alas the goings on of our world have once again distracted me! First, I was struck this morning by the new airplane! Have ya heard? The Boeing 787 was unveiled today and among it’s touted features…a wheelchair accessible bathroom! Before I proclaimed “Hallelujah!” at this news, I did stop to ponder the fact that my wheelchair has to be loaded in cargo after I board the plane, so how would I get to this lovely lavatory? The blogger for Wheelchair Diffusionagrees and there’s a cool pic of the actual bathroom if you’re interested. Before we regress to full walker bashing, I must say that according to this picture below, the aisles do look large enough to fit some chairs-so maybe JUST maybe, the airlines have (or are quickly pulling together) a plan for some sort of loaner onboard chair. Either way, I’m happy with the extra room. For some reason, my smallness seems to make others feel that they can take up whatever excess room in MY seat I don’t seem to be using at the moment! [...]
The convergence of two bathrooms to one is brilliant. Boeing engineers have outdone themselves again. The chair itslef may not be necessary, however another human being most usually is.
With all the recent hoopla about waterless toilets, one would think that the airlines must be thinking of these as a way to save potentially hundreds of pounds of (water) takeoff weight.
aisle chairs can be on board by request during flight.