Flight Suits

[Sticky]

Anyone here know of a good warm flight suit? I'll be operating a Navajo for about 300 hours this summer at 25,000 feet. Our flight tests so far show that the stock forward heater doesn't work so well at -20 temps. Heated suits only last an hour or two on battery, so that’s not an option. Any ideas?



Mike

 

[EagleRJ]

Get an insulated hunting outfit- bib overalls and jacket. They're designed for remaining motionless for hours in sub-zero temperatures, so you'll be plenty warm. The only downside is they're bulky, and you'll look wierd walking out to the airplane in Realtree or blaze orange!

No matter what the cabin temp is, you need to plan for the heater quitting and the temp dropping to near ambient. I've got that T-shirt too!

 

[Jmmccutc]

The only downside is they're bulky, and you'll look wierd walking out to the airplane in Realtree or blaze orange!

i prefer Advantage, but hey, i don't think it's gonna matter cause you're gonna look pretty amusing no matter what camo pattern you wear...but like RJ said, the hunting bibs would work well, just think about the bulk factor...did you consider long underwear? if you throw on 2 or three pairs of that and some insulated jeans might help...it'd be less bulky than the bibs, but maybe not a warm...try it out and let us know...

 

[moving2vegas]

Try insulated carhartt coveralls. Not too bulky, they unzip all the way to the hip so you can get in/out of them inside the plane if needed, they also come in black...so you can avoid the camo.

 

[ms6073]

Something with a good amount of Nomex would be a good idea. I know it is not likely to happen, but in the event of an inflight fire, you should consider how fire resistent your final choice is. I think a lot of the garments people have suggested depend on highly technical synthetics that tend to melt when exposed to high heat but I imagine you could use simply use a spray-on fire retardent!

 

[DC4boy]

Nomex does absolutely nothing to keep you warm, or cool for that matter. There is no warm flight suit. Get some Carhartt coveralls.

 

[ackattacker]

I used to ride motorcycles in the freezing weather and used a widder electric vest underneath a snowmobile suit. The electric vest was VERY warm, not bulky, and reasonably inexpensive. Of course, it's designed to plug into a 12 volt electrical system so you'd have to get a 28 to 14 volt converter, or a large heat-sinked 5 ohm dropping resistor. Even better, if there's two of you up there then get two vests and wire them in series. www.widder.com

 

[SIG600]

Ya... a flight suit (we use aramid now not nomex) does not keep you warm at all, nor does it disapate heat when it's 9 billion degrees on the ramp.

 

[DC4boy]

Ya... a flight suit (we use aramid now not nomex) does not keep you warm at all, nor does it disapate heat when it's 9 billion degrees on the ramp.

Yeah, flight suits are worthless.

We had a tanker base manager make us wear our zoom bags at William Gateway one June day. 116 deg. F. That hurt.....

 

[HiFlyChick]

Just out of curiosity, how long do your flights tend to be and what on earth are you doing up there in a Navajo?

BTW, my vote is for layers, and lots of them. Been there, done that with freezing flights in the Navajo when the Janitrol packed it in. Thankfully, all of ours now have the aux heater that pipes in air heated from the exhaust, so you only lose the heat if you lose an engine...

 

[FN FAL]

Just out of curiosity, how long do your flights tend to be and what on earth are you doing up there in a Navajo?

yea really...tell me that job pays more than my wife's receptionist job...and she's just a highschool grad.

Let me guess...arial mapping?

 

[hawg2hawk]

Something with a good amount of Nomex would be a good idea. I know it is not likely to happen, but in the event of an inflight fire, you should consider how fire resistent your final choice is. I think a lot of the garments people have suggested depend on highly technical synthetics that tend to melt when exposed to high heat but I imagine you could use simply use a spray-on fire retardent!

Right, because everyone normally wears fireproof clothing in the Navajo.

 

[SIG600]

Yeah, flight suits are worthless.

We had a tanker base manager make us wear our zoom bags at William Gateway one June day. 116 deg. F. That hurt.....

You think thats bad.... try walking across the ramp on a summer day in the south, in flight suit, g-suit, torso harness, sv-2 (survival vest) with integrated LPU, and helmet on. Holy sweaty nuts batman... then going through the process of strapping into the jet. I've never sweat so much in my life as I do on those days... The only reason we even wear flight suits (other than convienience) is for fire protection.

 

[Sticky]

FN FAL- Yes, it's aerial mapping. Does your wife make more then 50K? Cause thats what we pull in to fly VFR only and home almost every night. Not a bad deal if you ask me.

Thanks guys, think I'll look into Carhartt coveralls.

 

[DC4boy]

You think thats bad.... try walking across the ramp on a summer day in the south, in flight suit, g-suit, torso harness, sv-2 (survival vest) with integrated LPU, and helmet on. Holy sweaty nuts batman... then going through the process of strapping into the jet. I've never sweat so much in my life as I do on those days... The only reason we even wear flight suits (other than convienience) is for fire protection.

Yeah but does the jet have A/C??

 

[Grumman guy]

Yeah, that must be a real long walk out to the airplane

poor thing!

 

[SIG600]

Yeah but does the jet have A/C??

Ya.. which on the ground dosen't really even work. It blows "not so hot" air out, which can't keep up with the heat creeping up because of the green house canopy. Once in the air the A/C is great because it's a bleed air system, and being above 15K helps too. And yet we go at it day after day with a huge sh!t eating grin regardless of the wx!

 

[Grumman guy]

Roger That!!!!

 

[A Squared]

Second the Carhartt's overalls. As forthe fire resistance, Carharts are cotton, which performs fairly well. yes it will burn, but so will nomex and amarid, ultimately. What it *won't* do is melt like many sythnetics, and that is the real danger. The idea is to protect exposed skin in in the initial flash fire form flying fuel. If you're exposed to sustained, prolonged fire your in a world of hurt, no matter what you're wearing.

As for the cold, wear layers under the overalls. Also get some good thick overboots. Your feet may get pretty cold.

Done my time over FL200 in unpressurized twins.

 

[Sticky]

Thanks everybody. We're gonna go with the Carhartts, althought the toolbag factor is pretty high. Can't wait to strool across the ramp in those things, however keeping warm is number one in my book .