Flight Suits

Skymac

Skymac

Pre-takeoff checklist
Joined
Nov 9, 2015
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342
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Kentucky
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Display name:
Justin
Curious to what everyone wears under their flight suits? I spend 6 hours in the plane a few times a week and don’t currently wear one but I think I’d like to. I know it will be warmer, just looking for comfort.
 
Boxer shorts and a cotton t-shirt.
 
I generally wear whatever I want to be wearing (cotton only) whenever I have to take it off… and that’s brutal in the summer. Jeans, T-shirt isn’t uncommon for me.
 
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When I was racing cars, I always wore a pair of shorts and a T-shirt under my nomex, but I made sure they were 100% cotton. No polyester or blends. Plastics will melt, but cotton will smolder and burn cleanly. Polyester melted into your burned skin makes for a much worse wound.
 
Why would you want to wear a flight suit? Are you in an open cockpit?
 
If you’re wearing Nomex, go commando or go home.
 
I wore Nomex flightsuits for years and just wore regular jeans and T-shirts underneath year round. Occasionally I'd wear cut-offs or board shorts if I was planning on going swimming at some point in the day.

These days, I don't wear flightsuits. And, I'm still wearing jeans (or my favorite old pair of board shorts) and T-shirts. I traded flight boots for a pair of minimalist running shoes that I like.
 
I only wear the flight suit when it's a hot day and I expect it to be cooler upstairs (yes, in an open cockpit), then I throw the suit on over the t-shirt and shorts I'm already wearing.
 
Cotton, wool or Nomex, or any combination of the three. And if you get your Nomex flight suit goobered up with grease or oil, that degrades it’s fire protection and should be changed out for another one. Don’t forget to pop your collar.
 
TCABM said:
If you’re wearing Nomex, go commando or go home.
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Ouch! I hope you washed that thing in Woolite about 1,000 times first!

kep5niner said:
...And if you get your Nomex flight suit goobered up with grease or oil, that degrades it’s fire protection and should be changed out for another one...
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Maybe "should be". But in my experience, no one was ever willing to pay for em. It was hard enough just to get the annual allotment of 2 zoom bags each.
 
TCABM said:
If you’re wearing Nomex, go commando or go home.
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That’s a lot of zipper to have something get caught in. High risk of zipping a bean above the frank.
 
I think I’ll skip out on commando! Seems rough!

I usually just wear khaki shorts and a tshirt but I just feel like the boys just get squashed down there. Need more room, maybe running shorts could be a better option.
 
If grease and oil is you only concern, I think you can find some cotton blend coveralls that are cooler and more economical than a flight suit. Look at Dickies brand deluxe coverall.
 
Clip4 said:
If grease and oil is you only concern, I think you can find some cotton blend coveralls that are cooler and more economical than a flight suit. Look at Dickies brand deluxe coverall.
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Flight suits are available in cotton as well as Nomex, that's what I have.
 
Going for the olive drab CAP style, high vis orange space shuttle look, or something from the 70s disco aisle?
 
Clip4 said:
If grease and oil is you only concern, I think you can find some cotton blend coveralls that are cooler and more economical than a flight suit. Look at Dickies brand deluxe coverall.
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Yea but where's the cool factor in that? Gotta dress up in military flight suits to go fly the war bird painted RV ya know. ;)
 
Doc Holliday said:
Yea but where's the cool factor in that? Gotta dress up in military flight suits to go fly the war bird painted RV ya know. ;)
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yep its all about being a wantta be, nothing to do with the only thing between you and a potential fire up front is a piece of .016 ss and a piece of .040 aluminum on the floor. sorry, but if the flight suit gives me a couple of extra seconds between me and the fire, its worth it.
 
unsafervguy said:
yep its all about being a wantta be, nothing to do with the only thing between you and a potential fire up front is a piece of .016 ss and a piece of .040 aluminum on the floor. sorry, but if the flight suit gives me a couple of extra seconds between me and the fire, its worth it.
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So you are saying all GA pilots flying small SE and ME airplanes should suit up in Nomex military flight suits before flying?

And curious, how many GA accidents were fatal and the cause attributed to burning and the pilot (or passengers) weren't wearing Nomex?

Also, IIRC, Nomex only protects in a flash fire, hence why it's "fire resistant" and not "fire proof".
 
Doc Holliday said:
Yea but where's the cool factor in that? Gotta dress up in military flight suits to go fly the war bird painted RV ya know. ;)
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And don’t forget about looking spiffy when getting a $100 burger.

Remember also - if not wearing goggles with it you need at least wear the highly mirrored top gun sun glasses.
 
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WDD said:
And don’t forget about looking spiffy when getting a $100 burger.

Remember also - if not wearing goggles with it you need at least to wear the highly mirrored top gun sun glasses.
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Scarf.....gotta have the scarf. ;)
 
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Reactions: WDD
I bought a pair for the pockets. Never been able to be seen in public with them. When I took off the last official one many years ago, I swore I would never wear them again. I do wish someone would make a better pair of cargo pants, preferably with the leg pockets.
 
A Nomex flight suit is very little protection against fire. It does prevent melting into the skin from regular synthetics. There just isn't any insulation. Look at race car requirements. They require Nomex long underwear unless it is a multi layer suit.

I have actually survived an airplane crash with post crash fire. I was wearing khakis and a cotton polo shirt. Other that where they tore, they pretty much reduced the severity of the burns. But I was wearing military Nomex flying gloves and even with them, the backs of my hands were 3rd degree burned.
 
ebetancourt said:
I bought a pair for the pockets. Never been able to be seen in public with them. When I took off the last official one many years ago, I swore I would never wear them again. I do wish someone would make a better pair of cargo pants, preferably with the leg pockets.
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Gibson and Barnes has two piece flight suits which might be what you’re looking for, pants only.
 
Half Fast said:
When I was racing cars, I always wore a pair of shorts and a T-shirt under my nomex, but I made sure they were 100% cotton. No polyester or blends. Plastics will melt, but cotton will smolder and burn cleanly. Polyester melted into your burned skin makes for a much worse wound.
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I did the same. And in the welding shop I only buy they boys 100% cotton. Now that I've retired from racing (for now) and hunting more, I'm once again picky about material. Merino wool is all I'll buy. All that under armor crap is hot garbage when you spend 2 weeks sweating in the mountains.
 
Pinecone said:
A Nomex flight suit is very little protection against fire. It does prevent melting into the skin from regular synthetics. There just isn't any insulation. Look at race car requirements. They require Nomex long underwear unless it is a multi layer suit.

I have actually survived an airplane crash with post crash fire. I was wearing khakis and a cotton polo shirt. Other that where they tore, they pretty much reduced the severity of the burns. But I was wearing military Nomex flying gloves and even with them, the backs of my hands were 3rd degree burned.
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If you don't mind sharing I'd love to hear the story. There is a lot of talk out there about post crash fire egress but not a lot of people who have "been there-done that". Could be valuable for folks hear to hear your perspective and thoughts in the wake of that.
 
Half Fast said:
When I was racing cars, I always wore a pair of shorts and a T-shirt under my nomex, but I made sure they were 100% cotton. No polyester or blends. Plastics will melt, but cotton will smolder and burn cleanly. Polyester melted into your burned skin makes for a much worse wound.
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I did the same when I was racing. And in the welding shop I only buy they boys 100% cotton. Now that I've retired from racing (for now) and hunting more, I'm once again picky about material. Merino wool is all I'll buy. All that under armor crap is hot garbage. When you spend 2 weeks sweating in the mountains, that plastic material REEKS.
 
ebetancourt said:
I bought a pair for the pockets. Never been able to be seen in public with them. When I took off the last official one many years ago, I swore I would never wear them again. I do wish someone would make a better pair of cargo pants, preferably with the leg pockets.
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check out flightsuits.com they’ll customize for you.

it’s another name for gibson barnes….
 
When I was flying airambulance I preferred to look like a pilot, not look like a plumbers junior assistant.

There is a organization called ''The Commission on Accreditation of Medical Transport Systems'' (CAMTS) I called them CAN'TS. They required air ambulance pilots to wear the adult size one piece onesie saying it was protective in case of a crash. I tried to get the CAMTS people to wear them while the office but they refused.

I tried to get them to realize that usually after a crash the occupants of the airplane will be unconscious for a minimum of 15 minutes. So a fire suit able to resist 20-30 minutes of being on fire should be required, not a single layer cotton suit that resist less than 15 seconds of fire. Again, denied. So I refused to wear a onesie and dressed like a pilot instead. Single layer NOMEX will get folks hurt, not to mention it loses its fire resistance after repeated washings and exposure to the sun.

Before I quit racing, my last firesuit was triple layer NOMEX/KEVLAR with a full set of long underwear along with gloves and head sock. Top of the line at the time. At the time it was not cheap, dollar wise and quality wise.
 
Zeldman said:
When I was flying airambulance I preferred to look like a pilot, not look like a plumbers junior assistant.

There is a organization called ''The Commission on Accreditation of Medical Transport Systems'' (CAMTS) I called them CAN'TS. They required air ambulance pilots to wear the adult size one piece onesie saying it was protective in case of a crash. I tried to get the CAMTS people to wear them while the office but they refused.

I tried to get them to realize that usually after a crash the occupants of the airplane will be unconscious for a minimum of 15 minutes. So a fire suit able to resist 20-30 minutes of being on fire should be required, not a single layer cotton suit that resist less than 15 seconds of fire. Again, denied. So I refused to wear a onesie and dressed like a pilot instead. Single layer NOMEX will get folks hurt, not to mention it loses its fire resistance after repeated washings and exposure to the sun.

Before I quit racing, my last firesuit was triple layer NOMEX/KEVLAR with a full set of long underwear along with gloves and head sock. Top of the line at the time. At the time it was not cheap, dollar wise and quality wise.
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But you've stated here before that you owned the company. Did you allow other pilots there to wear pilot uniforms as well?
 
Zeldman said:
So a fire suit able to resist 20-30 minutes of being on fire.....
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30 minutes?! Never heard of such a suit. Even if a suit didn’t burn, the heat and the hot air inhalation would kill you long before that.
 
Per Army Regulations: Cotton, wool or NOMEX panties, bra and T-shirt. (Not for me, naturally :cool:)
 
I see this thread and can only think of one thing early in my military career. A flight surgeon who hailed from Southern Mississippi got up to speak at a Battalion safety meeting and informed a 100% male Attack pilots that we had to quit “Freeballing”. None of us had ever heard the term before and after we quit laughing we all had to vow to wear cotton underwear to keep our Up slips…

Cotton adds an extra layer in a flash fire…hard to graft skin in certain areas…

I see no benefit to one piece nomex in GA and would consider it more of a hazed to evacuation, hanging on things.
 
ebetancourt said:
I bought a pair for the pockets. Never been able to be seen in public with them. When I took off the last official one many years ago, I swore I would never wear them again. I do wish someone would make a better pair of cargo pants, preferably with the leg pockets.
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Look for a pair of surplus "A2CU" pants at a surplus store or on eBay. They have tan ones and multiple camo patterns. Plenty of pockets.
 
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