RobertL18C wrote:
Nomex suits tend to acquire an earthy smell like hung game, dry cleaning or washing removes the fire retardant properties.
No, it does not. The aramid fibre itself is fire retardant, and USAF suits do have washing instructions printed on the tag.
the correct answer is “never”
when i was flying a lot of aerobatics i didn’t wear one – and neither did anybody else at my level
when i did my jet conversion about 20 years ago, almost everybody else in the group wore one, but our check out pilot didn’t. i got into the airplane one day with him and he said “i’m glad you don’t feel the need to dress up like an astronaut just because you are flying a jet”
there are some essential things to wear when flying jets or aerobatics – the right sort of gloves. if you get a hot start in a JP, you will notice that the gap between the HP cock and LP cock when you take it out of the intent to pull it back is a little bit narrower than the width of your knuckles – and the levers do not have rounded edges on them.
flying the Pitts in the summer (sweaty hands), your hand will tend to slip of the stick if you push hard. this will get your attention, especially inverted low level. the right sort of glove for this is a US baseball glove with the sticky palms.
hammer wrote:
the correct answer is “never”
Agree… the only time I ever wore a flight suit was when flying the grand old lady D-EMIL, that 1944 built Focke-Wulf Stieglitz FW-44. The open rockers spilled some oil making googles and suit a good thing to wear 
1998 and a much younger me…
As for the wearing of such a suit, unless engaged in experimental air racing, in-flight fire probably rates as one of the smallest accident/incident causes.
One has to realise that SEP flying IS inherently dangerous. And total risk elimination impossible. As they say, no risk – no fun… or just stay on the ground…
I never wear flying suits but I wear gloves in wood & fabric and put my helmet in open cockpits (Turb/Tiger), also wear parachutes in aerobatics and gliders (mid-air collision risks than engine concerns), I never put the helmet in the Cub, it could be a good idea if I get an engine failure again with trees ahead
I am less worried about being burned alive in piston aircraft, the same way as I am not being worried about burning my skin when driving Nissan to Tesco car park…
I thought this was an odd question, and I think the answers are even odder.
As far as I can see, the only reasonable answer is “when you want to”. If you want to wear a Nomex flying suit to the supermarket, or to the debutantes’ ball, go for it.
Personally I always wore on when I flew aerobatics, because all those zip-up pockets are very handy. I also wore one once to get an ice-cream – as it happens on my way back from flying aerobatics. It led to a very interesting chat with the store owner, who was an ex-Iranian AF fighter pilot. (He told me flying fighter jets in combat was way easier than running an ice cream store).
I’m assured by a friend of mine that San Francisco’s top fetish/gay clothing store sells them, and I suspect it isn’t for flying.
I’m mystified my all the kind of negative virtue signalling about when you shouldn’t wear one. If in-flight fire bothers you, sure, wear one. Why not? Afraid f what all the guys with epaulettes on their pseudo-uniform shirts will say/ Get over it.
I would regularly have to stop at a service station on my way home from training and feel no stigma about wearing a karate suit into the store. I’m not sure I would feel the same about a Nomex flight suit. I really don’t do enough of the kind of flying that would warrant wearing a Nomex flight suit. Usually, if it’s oily messy work I have old working clothes. If it’s cold and I’m flying, I wear base layers. What a flight suit is good for is stopping you from getting a chill on the small of your back flying something drafty, where you are getting in and out of it on short flights.
I tend to think more about life insurance for protection, than the flame retardant properties of a flight suit. Gloves, helmets, and parachutes all have a clear use and a correct context to wear them for sure.
Ultranomad wrote:
Nomex suits tend to acquire an earthy smell like hung game, dry cleaning or washing removes the fire retardant properties.
No, it does not. The aramid fibre itself is fire retardant, and USAF suits do have washing instructions printed on the tag.
My understanding is that they are OK for occasional delicate 30 degree wash cycle with non detergent, up to around 50 washes. Definitely no dry cleaning, no tumble drying. Apparently the fabric does lose it’s properties with overwashing, and or dry cleaning.
Memory return: Gliding from 1959 – 1964 we wore grey windproof suits, RAF surplus. Very thin material, but windproof. I don’t know if they were fireproof.
PS I was criticized by a fellow mogas user who spotted me at Tesco filling jerricans between flights and still wearing my hiviz.
johnh wrote:
If in-flight fire bothers you, sure, wear one.
It’s rather the post-crash fires that make me think. A Nomex suit could buy you valuable seconds to escape a burning wreck.
I never wore one yet. However, when flying our club’s J3-65 with the fuel tank basically on your lap I always get a funny feeling that could change my mind at some point.
I wonder how many pilots actually die in a post crash fire after a survivable crash…
Supersonic wrote:
I wonder how many pilots actually die in a post crash fire after a survivable crash…
I had a friend who got what he described as breezy exit after his twin Beech had double engine failure and caught fire last year, he did not stall the aircraft, flown it toward the ground walked away with other 3pax from his crash in the middle of fire, they would have burned alive if they were stuck or injured after the crash, his advice is to buy a wooden axe !
