Before I departed the State Department as an instructor pilot one of my last lesson plans I had to prepare was regarding flight equipment and egress training. I changed a few thigs from happy to glad and tailored for the EAA community. I thought I'd pass it along.
The time has finally arrived; often after more than 2,000 hours and years of build time, refresher training, a fresh medical/bi-annual flight review - now it?s time to make that first flight. There are several printed articles and videos out there advising this and that to prepare for your first flight in your new airplane. I won't repeat what's been said.
Instead, what I?d like to discuss is what you or your designated/selected test pilot will wear on the first series of flights. Yep, clothing. In the military we call it Aviation Life Support Equipment (ALSE), or flight equipment. Flying a new airplane, particularly for the first and subsequent 25-50 hours, demands dealing with some unknown risks. The more prepared you are to handle an emergency or abnormality, the better chance you have to survive it. Why not dress for the occasion? Proper clothing and flight equipment will mitigate several risks for you, and ensure that abnormalities will not compound in a worst-case scenario.
In our flight test department, for every flight, we wear a single piece nomex flight suit, cotton undergarments, leather over-the-ankle boots, nomex/leather gloves, Kevlar helmet with visor, and a parachute (or ejection seat).
Let?s talk about the nomex single piece flight suit. Nomex is a registered trademark for a flame resistant material developed by DuPont. It should be noted that Nomex does wear out, and if it becomes soaked with petroleum products it will not have the same fire resistant properties as a clean one.
Why do I need a single piece flight suit when some of our military units now use a two piece nomex uniform? The rigors of flight testing and some of the emergency scenarios you may find yourself in mandate a single piece uniform be used to take advantage of its streamlined anti-flailing and snagless attributes. A single piece suit can very easily be adjusted to the contour of your body, won?t flail in the slipstream if a bailout is required, and generally won?t snag on items in an airplane that tend to catch pockets, rolled up sleeves, buttons, etc.
Flight suits feature zippered chest, thigh, sleeve, and leg pockets and a full-length two-way front zipper for donning and attending to the call of nature. Zippers are important because when zipped shut, they positively hold things inside your pockets, no matter what the attitude, ?g? force, or wind velocity. Zippers are easily manipulated while wearing flight gloves, and don?t half-way or unevenly close like Velcro. Flight suit pockets are normally strategically placed so an aviator can take advantage of them while strapped into a harness or seat with a five point restraint system. The large lower leg pockets can easily hold flight gloves, pocket checklists, charts, and even a motion sickness bag that are all easily reachable from a strapped-in and sitting position. The sleeve pocket is great for holding car keys and pocket change for the vending machine, and the chest pockets are perfect for holding your required FAA documents such as pilot certificate, medical, etc. What a deal, huh?
The next important item of clothing is the nomex/leather glove. I always hear, ?But sir, I fat finger the knobs and switches wearing the gloves, can?t I keep them optional?? Properly fitting nomex flight gloves should fit snugly and form to your hand. They are not for warmth. With surprisingly little practice you will become very dexterous wearing your gloves. I always wear mine during preflight when it?s hot outside. Touching metal surfaces is much safer wearing gloves and the dexterity flight gloves have easily allow me open and close cowlings, hatches, clips, etc. I do freely admit that the new touch screens (Garmin GTN650/750) don?t react well to the gloved hand. For this, I have a pair with the fingertips removed.
Leather boots may seem like overkill and I hear the argument for them being heavy and the wearer not being able to ?feel? what?s going on down at his feet. Nowadays there are versions of leather boots that have light-duty soles, but still offer the over the ankle protection of leather. Your boots are what will give you some added foot stability in a bail-out situation, fire protection in the footwells, and closed-toe safety during ground and hangar operations.
The helmet ? here is where I get the stink-eye ad raised eyebrows the most. They are expensive, hard to adjust, and just plain klunky. I know. Take the time to track down a lightweight Kevlar fixed-wing aviators helmet. Adjust it to your head, and use it. A helmet with the visor down can protect you from so many possible problems. If the collar of your flight suit is turned up, and the front zipper is fully closed, the helmet completes the fire-proof protective suit. A smoked visor eliminates the need for sunglasses and provides a nearly full field of view behind a layer of protective film.
A good helmet will have a noise reduction headset and electronic microphone as part of the assembly. Adjustable nape and chin straps will hold it firmly in place in an accident or harsh maneuvering. Head protection is guaranteed in case of canopy separation, bird strike, or internally flying objects (lost pair of cleco pliers).
Borrow, rent or buy a parachute for your testing phase. Have it fitted while wearing all your flight equipment. Become familiar with its harness and attach points. Learn to blindly differentiate between its buckles and the aircraft?s buckles. Practice egress procedures while wearing it on the ground. Know the operational envelope of the chute and how to deploy it.
Prepare yourself for an emergency egress. While wearing all your new equipment, completely strap in, close and latch the canopy, plug-in the helmet intercom cord and familiarize yourself with the cockpit. Sweep the flight controls, adjust the seats, belts, cushions, rudder pedals to fit you. Next, practice unstrapping yourself and disconnecting and stowing cords, kneeboards, loose items.
Develop egress procedures that can be executed ? without damaging the aircraft ? as quickly as possible. Thirty seconds is a good target. Follow a plan: (example below)
Task ? Egress Drill
Condition ? Inside the aircraft, strapped-in, headset/helmet connected, electrical power as required, canopy closed and locked, flaps down.
Standard ? Egress the aircraft within 30 seconds without damaging the aircraft or hurting yourself/others around you.
Procedures:
Aircraft emergency procedures ? Complete
Communications cord ? disconnected
Kneeboard, loose items ? removed and stowed
Seatbelts/Harness ? Disconnected
Canopy ? Open
Egress - Complete
The time has finally arrived; often after more than 2,000 hours and years of build time, refresher training, a fresh medical/bi-annual flight review - now it?s time to make that first flight. There are several printed articles and videos out there advising this and that to prepare for your first flight in your new airplane. I won't repeat what's been said.
Instead, what I?d like to discuss is what you or your designated/selected test pilot will wear on the first series of flights. Yep, clothing. In the military we call it Aviation Life Support Equipment (ALSE), or flight equipment. Flying a new airplane, particularly for the first and subsequent 25-50 hours, demands dealing with some unknown risks. The more prepared you are to handle an emergency or abnormality, the better chance you have to survive it. Why not dress for the occasion? Proper clothing and flight equipment will mitigate several risks for you, and ensure that abnormalities will not compound in a worst-case scenario.
In our flight test department, for every flight, we wear a single piece nomex flight suit, cotton undergarments, leather over-the-ankle boots, nomex/leather gloves, Kevlar helmet with visor, and a parachute (or ejection seat).
Let?s talk about the nomex single piece flight suit. Nomex is a registered trademark for a flame resistant material developed by DuPont. It should be noted that Nomex does wear out, and if it becomes soaked with petroleum products it will not have the same fire resistant properties as a clean one.
Why do I need a single piece flight suit when some of our military units now use a two piece nomex uniform? The rigors of flight testing and some of the emergency scenarios you may find yourself in mandate a single piece uniform be used to take advantage of its streamlined anti-flailing and snagless attributes. A single piece suit can very easily be adjusted to the contour of your body, won?t flail in the slipstream if a bailout is required, and generally won?t snag on items in an airplane that tend to catch pockets, rolled up sleeves, buttons, etc.
Flight suits feature zippered chest, thigh, sleeve, and leg pockets and a full-length two-way front zipper for donning and attending to the call of nature. Zippers are important because when zipped shut, they positively hold things inside your pockets, no matter what the attitude, ?g? force, or wind velocity. Zippers are easily manipulated while wearing flight gloves, and don?t half-way or unevenly close like Velcro. Flight suit pockets are normally strategically placed so an aviator can take advantage of them while strapped into a harness or seat with a five point restraint system. The large lower leg pockets can easily hold flight gloves, pocket checklists, charts, and even a motion sickness bag that are all easily reachable from a strapped-in and sitting position. The sleeve pocket is great for holding car keys and pocket change for the vending machine, and the chest pockets are perfect for holding your required FAA documents such as pilot certificate, medical, etc. What a deal, huh?
The next important item of clothing is the nomex/leather glove. I always hear, ?But sir, I fat finger the knobs and switches wearing the gloves, can?t I keep them optional?? Properly fitting nomex flight gloves should fit snugly and form to your hand. They are not for warmth. With surprisingly little practice you will become very dexterous wearing your gloves. I always wear mine during preflight when it?s hot outside. Touching metal surfaces is much safer wearing gloves and the dexterity flight gloves have easily allow me open and close cowlings, hatches, clips, etc. I do freely admit that the new touch screens (Garmin GTN650/750) don?t react well to the gloved hand. For this, I have a pair with the fingertips removed.
Leather boots may seem like overkill and I hear the argument for them being heavy and the wearer not being able to ?feel? what?s going on down at his feet. Nowadays there are versions of leather boots that have light-duty soles, but still offer the over the ankle protection of leather. Your boots are what will give you some added foot stability in a bail-out situation, fire protection in the footwells, and closed-toe safety during ground and hangar operations.
The helmet ? here is where I get the stink-eye ad raised eyebrows the most. They are expensive, hard to adjust, and just plain klunky. I know. Take the time to track down a lightweight Kevlar fixed-wing aviators helmet. Adjust it to your head, and use it. A helmet with the visor down can protect you from so many possible problems. If the collar of your flight suit is turned up, and the front zipper is fully closed, the helmet completes the fire-proof protective suit. A smoked visor eliminates the need for sunglasses and provides a nearly full field of view behind a layer of protective film.
A good helmet will have a noise reduction headset and electronic microphone as part of the assembly. Adjustable nape and chin straps will hold it firmly in place in an accident or harsh maneuvering. Head protection is guaranteed in case of canopy separation, bird strike, or internally flying objects (lost pair of cleco pliers).
Borrow, rent or buy a parachute for your testing phase. Have it fitted while wearing all your flight equipment. Become familiar with its harness and attach points. Learn to blindly differentiate between its buckles and the aircraft?s buckles. Practice egress procedures while wearing it on the ground. Know the operational envelope of the chute and how to deploy it.
Prepare yourself for an emergency egress. While wearing all your new equipment, completely strap in, close and latch the canopy, plug-in the helmet intercom cord and familiarize yourself with the cockpit. Sweep the flight controls, adjust the seats, belts, cushions, rudder pedals to fit you. Next, practice unstrapping yourself and disconnecting and stowing cords, kneeboards, loose items.
Develop egress procedures that can be executed ? without damaging the aircraft ? as quickly as possible. Thirty seconds is a good target. Follow a plan: (example below)
Task ? Egress Drill
Condition ? Inside the aircraft, strapped-in, headset/helmet connected, electrical power as required, canopy closed and locked, flaps down.
Standard ? Egress the aircraft within 30 seconds without damaging the aircraft or hurting yourself/others around you.
Procedures:
Aircraft emergency procedures ? Complete
Communications cord ? disconnected
Kneeboard, loose items ? removed and stowed
Seatbelts/Harness ? Disconnected
Canopy ? Open
Egress - Complete
