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First Flight Fire Resistant Clothing

Frankster13

Active Member
I would be interested in recommendations for first flight clothing and other general safety considerations. I am thinking along the lines of general recommendations on test flights. I don't want to go overboard but I am thinking fire resistant clothing, gloves, Halon extinguisher, etc. Any thoughts welcome.
 
Full Nomex apparel is probably what you're thinking might be going overboard.

Consider all cotton clothing (socks, pants, and a long sleeve shirt) in at least a medium weight fabric. Cotton doesn't catch fire that easily and won't melt onto your skin while burning if it does. Add leather shoes or boots and gloves. Deerskin or goatskin gloves provide good dexterity.

Best of luck with your first flight. Seems the more one prepares, the luckier one gets.

Cheers, David
RV-6A USAF (retired)
 
I would suggest a nomex flight suit, nomex socks and a pair of flung gloves. Not a lot of money for safety.
 
Good question as you have no idea what's going to come loose, rub the wrong way, flex or simply break. I would suggest if you're dressing for a fire and bringing a halon extinguisher, bring a gas mask too. I've endured smoke in my rv-4, and it's no bueno.
 
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Drifire fortrex is supposed to be superior to Nomex flight suits. They are Navair approved for flight use. A bit pricier though.
 
Nomex & Cotton

I've been on fire once before in my life (not in an airplane) and it is not something I'd wish on my worst enemy. So for my first flight, I went with the following:

Nomex Flight suit. Search eBay for a new old stock one and save some money.

Long sleeve cotton shirt underneath. You can buy fire resistant (FR) shirts from quite a few places too. I ended up getting an Oakley FR Carbon-X shirt for some of my flights, but only because I was flying faster than I could do laundry for my long sleeve cotton shirts, and I was flight testing in the middle of summer and would soak my shirts in sweat.

Lightweight, but calf-height wool socks.

Nomex high-top shoes. You can get them from the race shops online (Pegasus Auto Racing is one of my favorites). I have Piloti brand, but Simpson sells similar ones.

Leather gloves. Thin TIG welding gloves are great low-cost alternatives.

I wore a helmet (MSA Gallet), but no parachute. That's an entirely different discussion on those choices.

That's it. After my flight testing was done my flight suit and shoes have pretty much been sitting in a bag at the hangar. Everything else you can use in normal circumstances.
 
Frank,

If you want to wear nomex and would like to borrow a flightsuit, please post your size. I'll be glad to ship you mine if you'll return it when you're finished.

If mine won't fit you, perhaps someone else will volunteer.

Wool socks are probably superior to cotton.

Leather boots are probably on par with nomex auto racing high-top shoes as far as fire protection goes; they are just a bit heavier and less flexible. Mine are probably 9 1/2 regular. Same offer as the flightsuit.

Cheers, David
RV-6A KBTF
 
On my first few Rocket flights I went with my Nomex pajamas and gloves from my former gig as an FTE, and purchased high top Nomex racing shoes (Crow) from Summit (mil issue flight boots just don't work for me in the Rocket). Felt pretty silly wearing the monkey suit at the gas pumps (and it is back in the closet), but the shoes are a good addition to my normal flying attire.

I also had multiple fire extinguishers at close reach.
 
An ex-air force nomex flight suit, nomex flying gloves, cotton underwear, and some kind of footwear that won't completely melt to your feet in a fire would be a good choice, and won't break the bank. The suit and gloves can probably be borrowed from fellow local RV pilots, you might even be able to borrow a flight helmet.
 
Local

Frank

I just realized you?re in Sausalito. I have my flight suit (38R) and Nomex high tops (9.5) at my hangar at KSQL. If those would be any help, let me know and I can figure out how to get them to you.

Kevin
 
Halon extinguisher

I am not saying don't take an extinguisher, but I would be very careful discharging any extinguisher (except for water maybe) in an enclosed space the size of an RV interior. Don't just pull the pin and empty the thing, you might end up with no breathable air. Short squirts, just enough to beat down any active flame.
 
Nomex

Find a auto race driver retiring a suit. They have to be replaced occasionally and usually perfectly fine. I still have mine but it's not legal for driving. Three layer Nomex. Hot as the dickens with a full fire under garment, balaclava, gloves, socks, shoes, full face helmet and Hans.
 
FTE here. If you go with nomex, make sure anything you wear underneath is cotton or something like Carbon X. I'll probably be wearing my suit for my first few flights. I will for sure be wearing my nomex/leather gloves and leather boots (or at least have the gloves handy).

When poly melts into your skin, the way they get it out is by scraping your skin and the poly off. It's a bad, bad day.
 
Nomex Good, All Leather Gloves BAD

I still have the picture permanently seared into my brain of a F-80(?) driver who made a safety film for USAF. He was in a bad fire and sustained just survivable burns all over. The ONLY part of his body that was not recoverable were his hands that were mangled by the leather shrinking over them. Find Nomex flying gloves instead!
 
Next question, so at what flight do you stop wearing the nomex flight suit? Flight number 2? Flight 5? After 40 hours?
 
Next question, so at what flight do you stop wearing the nomex flight suit? Flight number 2? Flight 5? After 40 hours?

Good question - and it goes to why you're wearing special clothing in the first place. In my personal risk management scheme, I wear fire clothing as long as I am concerned about an increased risk of fire. In a flight test aircraft, that usually means you are worried about leaks or bad connections with fuel or oil lines. After each of the first couple of flights, the cowling should come of to inspect for any leaks, drips, or grime that indicates such leaks have occurred.

If, after a few flights of these inspections, you're happy that the further risk of leaks is small, then its probably safe to do away with the special clothing/precautions.
 
I still have the picture permanently seared into my brain of a F-80(?) driver who made a safety film for USAF. He was in a bad fire and sustained just survivable burns all over. The ONLY part of his body that was not recoverable were his hands that were mangled by the leather shrinking over them. Find Nomex flying gloves instead!

BG Bill Spruance, mandatory presentation when I was prepped for UPT in the 80’s...

https://youtu.be/kh9QkRG5Skw

It’s not short but well worth it. I was glued to my seat the entire presentation... and never forgot it. He was an amazing speaker.
 
Wow, quite a presentation by the General. I've been through my share of survival/safety training, but still learned some new things.
Read (view) and heed. Thanks for forwarding!

Doug
Seattle area
 
I watched some of the general's presentation and found it interesting.. I laughed my $^#( off when he got the part of his presentation where he describes bringing a kit he carries on airliners when he travels .. divers googles in case of smoke, a bungee cord so he can bungee a pillow to his face in the event of a crash, nomex gloves he can put on that he keeps in his inside jacket pockets.. all while the big airliner is crashing on takeoff or landing. :rolleyes: I guess on the flipside, one doesn't ever want to go through what he went through to get all mangled up in the first place.
 
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