Ibra wrote:
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 !
I would agree with that advice. I often wonder how I would get out of the Beech Barons I fly if I had to in a hurry……
Ibra wrote:
his twin Beech had double engine failure and caught fire
that’s an interesting story… ?
Ibra wrote:
his advice is to buy a wooden axe !
and yes, I do carry a crash axe (actually a survival axe) in my steed, located right below my legs. Hope I’ll never have to use it in whatever scenario…
You should wear a Nomex suit if you “fly” one of these, as you can tell from the burnt out RU tanks in Ukraine, it gets hot fast in there
Fun fact: in the French army those suits have a sort of handle at the back so you can pull people out of the vehicle from the top.
You should wear a Nomex suit if you “fly” one of these
I guess axes & shovels are useless inside, that’s why they are strapped outside…
We used them more than the gun, but yes, bit too cramped for indoor use
I am starting to re-think my attitude to fire after watching the Formula One docu-drama series and seeing the footage of Romain Grosjean’s crash.
He survived in that fire for something like three minutes before he got out. The suit really is something else. Of course he also had a nomex balaclava, and they train to hold their breath for a long time.
The PA-17 has the fuel tank basically on your lap, and getting out is not that easy. One could argue of course that the best mitigation is not stalling and not hitting things.
The Jodel DR1050 had 50 litres behind the panel, above your legs, and 50 litres under the rear seat.
The Bolkow Junior has 100 litres behind my shoulders.
Confessions: I wear one. It cost about £20 on Ebay. It claims to be ex-RAF and I see no reason to doubt this. I also wear Nomex gloves. I have a Nomex balaclava which I don’t wear. I have a nylon jacket (£60) which isn’t fireproof but apparently should not turn you into a human torch. As previously noted, it’s cheap and practical. I also wear a lifejacket with a PLB. If I had to do without one of the above, I’d probably drop the Nomex and keep the lifejacket.
In an open cockpit I can’t fly in normal clothes, and if I’m going to get changed prior to flying, it may as well be into Nomex.
There are only two things that I don’t like about my flight suit. I read somewhere they had a batch that were condemned when they realised some bright spark had used normal thread to sew them together, and that they will fall to pieces in a fire. I don’t really worry about this, as I wear lots of Nomex thermals underneath, but I suspect mine might be from that batch.
The other thing is that it looks military and I wouldn’t want anybody to think that I was pretending to be in the forces because I think this would be disrespectful. I haven’t flown abroad but can imagine that a foreigner in military dress might be problematic in some places. I tend to either change or wear a coat or jumper over it, so the flight suit just looks like walking trousers.
Other motorsports participants such as Go-Kart drivers obviously see Nomex as being worthwhile. A while ago I was researching risks and benefits of flight helmets and one article I read suggested that being burned in otherwise survivable crashes was rarer than I had previously thought. Never mock anyone for wearing such a flight suit though, as this will guarantee that they will become one of that unlucky number, and you’ll feel guilty afterwards if they weren’t dressed for the occasion.
IMO you should wear what you want to wear. What you feel most comfortable in and if it gives a feeling of greater safety, then that’s even better.
Our club scene means that most pilots just wear casual clothing, if they are not training for or entering competitions.
Most of us also do not wear the white shirts with the bars and the black trousers, unless they are in work or training to work in airlines or another professional capacity. Neither do most of our instructors even at ATOs. Although there are one or two ATOs where instructors must wear uniform especially when training ATPs.
I admit I did feel better wearing Nomex when flying a Cri Cri with the fuel tank between my legs. I am not sure how I will feel about the 2 × 20l plastic fuel cans just behind me. I might well be buying a new Nomax suit.
I think what open cockpit flying has in common with motorsport is that if practicalities prevent you wearing your everyday clothes and thus you’re getting changed anyway, then it might as well be into Nomex.
