mtv wrote:Practice, guys... I used to think that with regard to the stiffest boots made, the aforementioned Bata Vapor Barrier boots. Till I met one of the best helicopter pilots around, who was in the process of working an animal capture project, while wearing bunny boots.... Later met another helicopter pilot, who also flies a Cub a LOT working, and also wears bunny boots.

Just takes a little practice.

MTV

Hey MTV-

No shit? Practice you say? Radical notion! Thanks for putting me back in my place vis-a-vis the best helicopter pilots around.

mtv wrote:Doug, good to see you post here. My feelings precisely on the axe/hatchet. Get really dehydrated, take a whack at a frozen chunk of firewood, and now you have a major bleed to deal with. The USAF Cold Weather Survival School at Eielson, when I went there, would not permit you to go into the field with an axe or hatchet for this very reason. They had field tested the concept.....

This has been the winter up here.....thinking about AZ a lot lately

MTV

WRT the cold, better thee than me. I live here for a reason. I won't bother tell you the temperature today, that would be cruel.

I've seen the result of an aircraft fire with crew of 4 egressing in the cold while wearing Massiff. aircraft completely engulfed in flames. There were some singed eyebrows, but the outfits worked exactly as advertised.

I agree with the Mukluks and Surrell -100 liners. I've done a couple of survival exercises with them as my footwear and loved them. They are not quite as warm as the VB boots, but are like tennis shoes to fly in.

Brett

UH-60andC-180 wrote:I've seen the result of an aircraft fire with crew of 4 egressing in the cold while wearing Massiff. aircraft completely engulfed in flames. There were some singed eyebrows, but the outfits worked exactly as advertised.
Brett

I've outfitted a number of my clients with Massiff gear and had them do up a few custom pieces. Good company and really good gear. Luckily, none of them have had to test it for fireproofness, but it kept them warm just like normal fleece.

For those who won't spend the money, I push them towards silk and wool and mil-surplus Nomex.

Mike, I wear bunny boots all the time in the helicopter, since it is just an anti-torque pedal, but don't in the Husky, because of my difficulty moving from the rudder to brake in the Husky. I can see wearing bunny boots in the Cub with heel brakes.

I wear Steger Mukluks in really cold conditions or Bogs boots from 0-40 degrees in taildraggers with toe brakes to maintain feel for the brakes/rudder. The Bogs boots have just fantastic feel for the pedals. I DO carry my bunny boots in the back as part of my survival gear.

George,

Again, I think it's mostly a matter of practice. That said, I have really small feet as well, so keeping my feet off the brakes is less of a problem than someone with bigger feet. For years, I flew 185's on wheel skis in the winter wearing bunny boots, because almost everywhere I went with those airplanes, there was a good chance of meeting overflow.

Flying with bunny boots isn't always easy, and the boots themselves are definitely NOT that comfortable, but they are the only boot I know of that will save your feet if you step into deep overflow in really cold temps.

I too love the mukluks. But, step in water at -30 and you'd best be getting a fire going quick, or change shoes. In a few winters we had where there was no overflow, I've worn mukluks, and there is no comparison to the bunny boots for both comfort and tactile feel.

That said, it just takes some practice to work all the pedals while wearing bunny boots. The gnarliest situation I ever ran into was wearing bunny boots, and instructing from the right seat in a 185 with a ski pump further compromising your leg room. It can still be done, though.

And, I am NOT the ace of the base, by any means.

MTV

I dunno . . . you guys have me confused.

I thought the only item on the Pre-Crash checklist was to make sure you have on clean underwear?

I have done a little flying with Civil Air Patrol they gave me a surplus survival vest with lots of pockets.

going on the theory that the only things you will end up with are those things you have on your person, I filled the pockets with the essentials. At the top of the list is a hand held VHF radio with extra batteries.

Also some water and some food and a mirror.

Now that we have opened up this subject, does any one wear a helmet while flying?

I have seen some nice light weight ones advertized and know that all of the the professional groups (Troopers, F&G, etc) require their pilots to wear them.

MTV. you are from Crookston! I have friends there that I stay in touch with and have visited on the rare occasion.

Maule,

Do a search here for helmets. Long chat on that subject. The best I've found are the Gallet helmets, available from Merit Apparel. They aren't cheap, but neither are any of the other good quality aviators helmets.

The only exception I'm aware of may be the Peltor helmet. It's actually a race car helmet, but has avionics added. Haven't worn one, so can't comment, but they are cheaper.

Gallet is rapidly taking over much of the helmet market. They are really light and very comfortable.

Send me a PM with the CKN contact.

MTV

Tick wrote:OK, so I when I flew for the Air Force the name of the game was not getting burned in a crash or in flight fire. The jets were old and had lots of juice running through them so that was the big threat. I was always glad to have my nomex gloves, flight suit, etc.

Now that I'm flying GA here in Alaska, it seems that there are two schools of thought on "dressing to egress". I'm pretty spooked about getting burned still so I dress accordingly with as much nomex as I can. On top of that I have my inflatable survival vest packed with strobe, food, flares, water, etc.

Some of the other guys dress in as much synthetic as possible on the idea that they will dry off faster if they get wet. Their theory is that there just isn't that much fuel onboard a small aircraft to make a real threat of fire and they'd rather dress for the elements.

I think they have a point but I'm torn. I don't want to spend my life in a burn unit getting plastic peeled off my skin. What's your take?

Isnt that what the ejection seat is for? And if your that worried about a fire in your Cessna, maybe a parachute would be the best out. I say this half in jest, but ya know....if I had a ragin fire going on up front, I think a parachute would be a great option. In the early days of aviation, didnt everybody wear chutes?