How do fighter pilots manage food, drink & toilet?
Life Strapped to the Rocket

Food and Drink

Fighter pilots do not have any problem taking food and drinks on flights.  The biggest concern is to prevent foreign object damage (FOD) from items like crumbs, bottles, bags, etc.  Otherwise, there are plenty of places to carry food to eat: your helmet bag, G-Suit pockets and flight suit pockets.  I typically carry water with me in my g-suit pocket, and don't worry about food unless its going to be a long flight.  Thankfully, training missions are rarely long enough that they require food in the cockpit, and it mostly just applies to deployments.  Typical food usually includes protein bars, chocolate, cereal bars, etc.  We try to avoid small loose foods like peanuts and M&amp;M's because they could easily spill and FOD the cockpit.

Depending on cockpit altitude, the mask can be easily removed to either eat or drink.  However, fighter cockpits are only partially pressurized, and, in the Super Hornet, there are times when cockpit altitude can be as high as 20,000ft.  Sound judgement is required before removing your mask.

Edit: I've also seen guys incorporate camelpacks into their harness/vests as well.  



Restroom

Obviously life on board a fighter jet is cramped, and there isn't a lot of room to move your body, much less use the restroom.  In addition to water, on every flight I carry an item called a pittle pack.  As its been stated, its a plastic bag with powder in it that reacts to urine.  The powder and urine mixture then turns to a jelly that helps prevent spillage, and the entire bag then rolls down and seals on itself.

Pittle packs present 2 major problems (three for carrier pilots):

First: Where the hell do I put this bag of urine? There isn't a lot of storage space on fighter aircraft and nobody wants to put a bag of urine in their g-suit pocket or helmet bag.  Sometimes you can get away with placing the bags in the flight publication pockets, but you better be sure it doesn't fall out.  The last thing you want is for the bag to fall, break, and then to smear about the cockpit as you continue with your mission.

Second: How do I get my junk out of this rocket powered chastity belt? My harness is strapped tightly 8 ways to the ejection seat, which is also cinched tightly to my g-suit.  My g-suit has an opening for my crotch, but its tightly zipped into position over my flight suit.  My flight suit has a zipper, but as stated, the zipper is covered by the g-suit.  And just to add one last layer of difficultly to this impenetrable force field, I've got to dig myself out from between the folds of my boxer briefs.  Success! I've managed to free myself only to discover that the tip of my business end is only barely protruding from this labyrinth of zippers and belts (size may not matter in the bedroom, but it sure as hell matters right now).  The next question you have to ask yourself is, do I have enough time to keep digging, or do I need to attempt to arc it into the bag?  Choose wisely.

Third (The carrier pilot):  Boom, OK three-wire trap!  Ah , the Naval Aviator.  I drop bombs, piss in bags, and then return home to land on a boat.  I'm pretty much a boss... and I'm covered in piss because I didn't secure my pittle pack before trapping on the boat.  The bag, upon catching the three-wire, like a boss, rocketed across the cockpit and smashed against the bulkhead, exploding all over my legs.  Always remember to secure your pittle packs before trapping on the boat, because even if your buddies didn't see it happen, you can guarantee the ground crew will tell them all about it.

Our female counterparts are forced to wear depends, I don't envy them at all.  Brave souls.

Oh, and if its not pee, RIP.