Small planes, what to wear for safety?

I have the the sense that there are a lot of small mishaps
and serious accidents. Does anyone have some info that
would help guide discussion. Causes: weather, pilot error,
mechanical failure.

What types of injuries a common? Trauma, drowning, hypothermia,
burns.

Do any pilots wear Nomex? Or any protective gear?

Would a chest protector or helmet do any good?

Parachute?

When I fly I make a point of wearing comfortable but sturdy clothing. Long sleeve shirts and long pants in a fire resistant fiber like cotton or wool. Sturdy leather footwear(usually boots). A light jacket with a fold-away hood, leather gloves, ear plugs, and a wool watch cap in stuffed the pocket. Ear plugs can make sleeping on the plane, or terminal, much more comfortable. The watch cap pulled over the eyes helps also.

Even if nothing major happens clothes you can walk/jog a good distance and lounge in comfortably makes a difference. Airports, and many airliners are kept far to cold for my tastes so the jacket is handy. It isn't uncommon to have the smaller planes diverted to out of the way airports where you may have to walk a good part of a mile, sometimes in miserable weather and through standing water, to get to the terminal.

The ladies in skirts, high heels with open toes can have a time of it. And that is just getting to and from the plane. I hate to think what a deficit they would be dealing with in the event of a landing that overshot into a swamp or icy water.

I would avoid rayon because it catches fire readily. Many other man made fibers melt. If they melt onto skin they can make burns far worse. Synthetic underwear, unless it is Nomex or similar, can put the boys at risk.

A lot depends on where your flying. The places I'm likely to fly are all pretty settled so any crash or accident will most likely be seeing rescuers in a short time. Flying into the arctic tundra or the Amazon rain forest I would be more concerned with long-term survival.

As understand it, the most common cause of small plane crashes is running out of fuel - pick a good pilot.

For what it's worth - when flying in helicopters, I was required to wear a Nomex flight suit and helmet. When flying fixed wing, nothing special was required. Appropriate clothing and good walking shoes amke a lot of sense.

As far a safty gear I have to agree with Desperado about the parchute. Though I should add that I have never sky dived nor used a parachute, so that may be more harm than good.

I did live in Alaska (didn't grow up there) I was on a Volenteer SAR team. My bags were always packed with gear that you would NEVER get on a plane (even more so post 9-11). But if you are flying ins small aircraft I would sugest the following

PSK (keep this one light and be aware of flair and matches issues. there is a TSA aproved butain lighter capsual for flying)

Small light AX
Saw

Packing synthetic clothing (dont' wear it, see above)

Also I would not be afraid to polightly ask if they have necessary safty gear. and take a moment to know where that gear is.

But that is just my thought

As long as you remember to deploy the 'chute, everything else "SHOULD" be okay. If not, your odds have changed very little in the long run.....

Dress for the night or two of waiting for rescue after treating injuries. Consider how you'd dress if you knew you'd be pinned in your seat that long.

While a parachute sounds like a good idea, it is best applied to inflight fire or structural failure situations which aren't very typical. I suppose you could make the case for them with fuel exhaustion too but.... it would be hard to jettison a pretty good glider at high enough altitude for the 'chute to be useful.

Nomex flight suit including gloves and helmet would be of great comfort sometimes but ultimately folks would make fun of you when you climbed into your Cessna 172 dressed that way. Even CAP isn't wearing nomex or helmets for their missions.

Unfortunately, most of the light aircraft fleet isn't very crashworthy from the standpoint of restraints and crushable structure. Primary reason is that most lightplanes are really OLD. Shoulder harnesses, for example, aren't universal. Then again, it's hard to make something light enough to fly if it needs to be crashworthy for 150mph impacts.

You can look over the many crashes over the years and get a sense of errors that lead to disaster here:
http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/month.asp

An awful lot of the problems amount to stupid pilot tricks or known traps that keep catching pilots since the 1920's.

Just watched a YouTube last night of a Bonanza that flew into clouds in a pass and the videographer riding in the backseat of the plane caught the flash of greenery thru the windshield as the plane's right wing touched bushes on a hillside parallel to their flight path as they emerged from a cloud. They survived and the plane flew to the airport where the wing damage was shown. Classic stupid pilot trick which isn't always survived......

I always point out the folks in the airport terminal dressed in tank tops, shorts and flip flops, and tell my passengers, "Would you want to run through burning jet fuel wearing that?"

They usually understand proper dress after I point that out.

Bump to Art.

There's really nothing you can wear or have to make a crash landing in a Cessna survivable. As noted from this post about the crash in Alaska that killed the passenger and seriously injured the pilot.

While I agree with Art completely, I wouldn't try to wear too much, especially if you were traversing water. All those clothes would weigh you down in the event of a splashdown.

So I guess just dress comfortably and appropriately for the terrain you're going over and pray you survive the initial crash.

Nomex doesn't need to look like military issue. Massif markets a very good line of Nomex clothing. I have a lot of their fleece outerwear and more than a couple pieces of their hotjohns underwear. Good stuff.

I'm not affiliated with Massif, just a customer.

There were a few threads on here a while ago about flight suits and other protective clothing.
I was unable to find them with a quick search but I seem to remember Nomex coveralls being mentioned a few times in them.

This. unimogbert, that's an interesting website the NTSB has on aviation accidents - thanks.

Scafool mentioned recent threads on related topics - here's one:

http://forums.equipped.org/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=169394&page=1

Chuck Roast also markets nomex fleece.

http://www.chuckroast.com/fire-safety/nomexfleece.php

No affiliation.

Avoidance - Don't do what I did once, which was ride along with a non-instrument rated pilot at night or in anything but good weather. Night VFR is possible, but we ran into light rain coming back from Plattsburgh and only got back because we were lucky. Luck isn't a good plan.

Pilots have their minimums, both the required ones and their personal ones. As a passenger, I have my own, too: I won't fly commuter sized airplanes in the winter from airports where it snows. I won't fly in single engine aircraft at night. I won't fly with a non-instrument rated pilot in anything but daytime and good weather.

Flying in a light plane, I watch the pilot do the pre-flight, and when I'm in the air I'm scanning for traffic much of the time.

Maybe a bit paranoid, but I don't have to travel much for work, so I can get away with it.

Wear sensible clothing, take small plane apart and load it into the cargo hold of a much bigger plane...

The few pilots I've known (small aircraft) have generally agreed that the most common reason for engine failure is water in the fuel. Since water is heavier than the fuel, it sinks to the bottom of the tank. Most pilots will drain a cup or so of fuel out of the tank prior to every flight. Some pilots forget, are drunk, are thinking about other things, or don't think it's necessary.

Some pilots fly too low over ridges and get caught in downdrafts. Some don't pay enough attention to their altimeters, or didn't adjust it for the barometric pressure, or don't really know what the elevation is of the terrain they're flying over.

Always ask the pilot if he/she has filed a flight plan. Or be with him when he does it. If you're too embarrassed to ask, you're too dumb to fly. If he/she says something like, "What's wrong, don't you trust me?", say "Not with my life, no."

A little Cessna 150 can go over 300 miles on one tank (depending on the plane, the load and how much throttle the pilot uses). That distance would provide a search area of over 70,000 square miles, about the size of Missouri. With two skinny people on board, no cargo, a tuned engine and a decent tailwind, maybe about 500 miles, so you can kick the search area up to almost 200,000 square miles (three-quarters of Texas).

Good advice seen here before: "Dress for egress" and "Dress to survive, not to arrive".

Sue

Paranoid? Not at all. I agree that avoidance is the first line of defense (I'm a huge fan of running away) and with that, I'm going to copy your suggestions on to some post-it notes and sprinkle them liberally through appropriate sections of my prep library. Speaking of, Pelton's "Come Back Alive" and USRSOG's "Six Ways In and Twelve Ways Out" have a good bit to say about air travel safety and survival.

Charley Shimanski of the Alpine Rescue Team notes that in small fixed-wing craft, the forward momentum is what injures and kills people in crashes. Helicopter fatalities generally result from fire in the aircraft after the crash. The helo typically stays together, the tail boom might come off.

Though a bit off-topic, the following are a bunch of random "points of interest" I've been fortunate enough to pick up from OTHER peoples' experience - not my own, thank goodness. I need to emphasize that I am not a pilot and if there's anything listed contrariwise to anybody's training and experience, please let me know. Regardless, I feel like I'm preaching to the choir here.

First and foremost: In an in-flight emergency, your bag of tricks can't be a big bag; you don't have a lot of time. There's an average of 30 seconds from the onset of emergency to impact (except for a controlled flight into terrain, but there isn't much you can do to prepare for that). So keep emergency gear in your pockets - as others have noted, the
airframe and survival kit may be on fire. The mental checklist should run something like this: Door! Reference! Belt! Grab your nose, guard your nose, get small, escape position.

Make a note of which way the buckle of the seat belt opens every time you strap in 'cause in an emergency you don't want to waste time trying to "open" your seat belt the wrong way.

On impact, do not look sideways.

Having a flight helmet means you're 7 times more likely to survive. If you have a loaner, DO NOT put the visor all the way down, only half way down (though I don't remember the explanation why - anybody?)

Take your wallet out of your hip pocket before you strap in; you'll conform to the seat much better.

In effecting egress, don't kick at the center of the window, kick out the side of the window.

Does your helicopter have floats? Skid mounted floats or fuselage mounted floats? With fuselage mounted floats, push out the window - DO NOT open the door so the sliding door doesn't cut the float. Floats can last up to 20 minutes (or fail at any time). A helicopter with floats will roll in four-foot seas. In any case, get away from the ship.

In some fixed-wings, if the flaps are down the rear doors don't open. Inconvenient at best.

39 lbs buoyancy defeats a fit adult, so don't put on / inflate the life jacket after you get out of the airframe.

When flying at night, some folks tape activated lightsticks to the corners of windows and doors to help identify potential exits. Some military helicopters have an overhead cable that runs right to the door. Pay attention to things that might get you out of the airframe.

Most of the time it wold be human error or wether
know what your doing wenn you chater a flight.
but dont not think it wont happen to you.

litlefoot01
be safe get prepard

Nomex as the shell and a natural material like Marino Wool for your wicking inner layer. Leave all your fleece etc packed until you get on the ground.

Please read the Nall Report (Report—Accident Trends and Factors) before listing rumour, urban legend, blanket one size fits all statements and just plain guessing (unless identifed as such.) Some of the responses are just bizarre.

http://www.aopa.org/asf/publications/nall.html

To the OP - small aircraft cockpits are small. Wearing add'l equipment is problematic not the least of which you will bake in the heat, especially while taxing on the ground. Be aware restriction of movement is a concern. And in the unlikely event I have to quickly exit the aircraft a lot of the suggested equipment will impede that ability. I do carry Nomex gloves in the very unlikely event of an in-cabin fire.

A pre-flight passenger briefing is required before every flight by the pilot. Just like the airlines, we follow the exact same reg. At a minimum, it should include how to use the safety equipment, what is available, how to exit the aircraft, where to meet, what is expected of the pilot/passenger during an emergency, etc.

The vast majority of emergencies can be handled in a safe, prompt manner with the proper knowledge and training. Trust me -- I want to go home for dinner every night. My risk management (training, experience, common sense) has made it a safe proposition for me to fly small aircraft.

And finally aviation is like any other endeavour. You have bad automobile drivers, bad doctors, bad lawyers and bad pilots. The system can never be perfect.

Leave the nomex fleece packed or wear the nomex fleece as a shell? I wear nomex fleece because if there's a fire you need it right now.

Sue:

This advise is just perfect.. so concise and very practial. I wanted to say that I love your line of, "If you're too embarrassed to ask, you're too dumb to fly"

Also I can't agree with the line of, "dress to survive, not arrive." Every time I have to dress to arive for something, I feel akward and ill prepaired. though I am getting better at hiding my equipment in my tux.

Yes, the tux problem is a problem. Even James Bond would have a hard time carrying much.

Even worse are those skinny little dresses that look like slips -- it's hard to hid anything. Of course, sometimes not hiding things is the point...

Sue

Hi

I wear a SRU-21P survival vest whenever I fly over desolate areas / wilderness.

The vest DOES restrict your movements - but it's manageable.

When flying near urban areas, I keep some survival gear in my flight bag.

I am contemplating an eventual upgrade and get an Israeli Air Force model - but it's hard to justify the $ 1000 expense...

Nomex shell material is like regular cloth for coveralls. Not as heavy as denim but heavier than regular cotton clothing.
It is very tough.
If you are flying a small plane and it is cold enough in the cabin for wearing long underwear then Nomex fleece becomes an option, but the regular Nomex outer shell protects against flash fires pretty well.

It is a lot less bulky, and you can just put it on over your regular clothes too.
For warmth it is like adding one extra layer of clothing so if your cabin is warm you might want to stow your regular jacket in your kit bag while you are wearing it.

If you are a passenger on a commercial flight you might want to consider a decent wool suit instead of any special clothing like coveralls.

And for women: Wear clothes and shoes you can run in.

Sue