There are several sources for Nomex long underwear out there. Race car drivers wear the stuff religiously, so searching around those kinds of sites will find good stuff. I have Nomex long underwear that I bought from Flight Suits, ltd probably ten years ago. Stuff lasts forever, and it actually is warm and wicks pretty well.

A number of years ago, I asked the equipment supply guys in the AF fighter squadrons in Alaska if their pilots actually wore Nomex underwear in flight in the winter, or poly pro.... Their answer was that most of the pilots were wearing poly pro. The logic there was that if you CRASHED in a fighter, you probably don't have to worry about fire. But, if you eject and it's winter...... The equipment guys couldn't argue that point, and went along with it.

Most of us don't have ejection seats, though.

Lots of good suppliers of nomex out there in any case.

MTV

This topic came up back in the winter of 08 and I commented then on the effectiveness, comfort, and insulation of Massiff. At that point I was in north iraq wearing full layers of nomex from drawers to long johns to out wear everyday. I even sent a set of the Massiff middle layer to someone on the forum.

The med on fort wainwright had an aircraft burn to the ground validating the need for fire retardant clothing and it's value in those situations. The crew had no burns past flash burns to their eyebrows while egressing.

Not as good as Nomex but Carthhart makes "flame resistant" clothing, little more affordable:

http://www.midwestworkwear.com/all-flame-resistant.aspx

I guess there is better information now on what happened. I have new/corrected information that the initial reports of his jeans being intact was inaccurate. It now sounds like they burned up to the knees also. He was wading in trying to put out the fire that caught in his upholstery foam/fabrics and should have bailed when the ignition first happened.

None-the-less his leg issues (which are quite severe) would be hugely reduced if he had had natural fiber long johns bottoms on.

Sorry for the initial info not being accurate. The family had more to do than sort this out, and the IP was their initial understanding of the situation.

lc

This is a great thread. Best wishes to your friend LC, praying for a full recovery.
I work in the oilpatch up here in Canada, and there is a huge emphasis to wear Nomex coveralls. We actually aarent allowed on a site without them on. The issue of what we wear underneath them has never risen however. I personally have never thought about it until reading this thread. It will be great information to share with my company and hopefully step up and make the workplace safer. And I'll also be wearing woolies when I fly from now on, no more helly hansons for this cowboy...

^^^^ Well, I hope some good can come of it, that people reading this can learn by his and others pain, because it has been a disaster for him in a lot of ways. It put him out of work with horrible injuries and the fire pretty much destroyed his business..... (not so proud owner of a business phone number).
They did surgery yesterday putting pig skin on his legs. He has 2nd, 3rd and worse burns on his legs and in a place or two it is burned to the muscle. He will be in for 2/3 or more additional surgeries and about that many weeks in the hospital. Then there is rehab.......

Please lets be safe out there.
lc

Hoping your friend makes a speedy recovery!!

^^^^^ Me, too!
Thanks.
lc

Thanks for the heads up LC.
Been wearing FR clothing at work for a long time but I did not give much thought to the long johns.
Ordered a set of the Ibex woolies as suggested by Denali Pilot.
Always lots to learn on this site!
Prayers to your buddy.

dale

*UPDATE*
My burned friend from Enumclaw went home this Friday after a month in Seattle's Harbor View Burn center.
He has lots of physical therapy ahead of him, and has to continue to sleep with some special 'boots' on to prevent his feet from curling up and becoming unusable. His lower legs still look a lot closer to salmon meat than to normal legs, but the very small thin mesh of his donor thigh skin is starting to grow. His wife had nurse training back in collage, so they taught her how to care for his legs-and saw she was very 'savvy' about medical procedure and cleanliness-and let him go home early. That's right. One month is 'out early'.
Burns have to be some of the most painful wounds around. Much of the time in the hospital he was 'floating around the room' somewhere with their using DRUGS to keep the pain to a tolerable level. He is a pretty tough guy, but that kind of pain can be overwhelming.
Anyhow, he is obviously very much "on the mend", so I wanted to thank everyone for their positive thoughts, prayers, and well wishes-whether registered here or just being supportive in your own way.

Thanks again, everyone.
lc

Glad to hear he is on the mend, LC. Thanks for starting the topic.

I've always avoided synthetics in the cockpit, but this thread and another about engine failure on takeoff at 200' inspired me to get religious about wearing my flight suit and helmet. The real test will come during the heat of the summer, but I figure if you guys can do it in Iraq, then I should be able to do it here.

Now, if I could only figure out how to improve my restraint system...

What is currently the absolutely best fire resistant fabric/clothes?
Apparently CarbonX ( http://www.carbonx.com/ ) is what is the current 'state of the art' in FR fabric.
Race drivers are using underwear, socks, and balaclavas made of it. Welders are using it as an exterior layer.
This is NOT firsthand knowledge, this is web research.
I will offer to purchase some of this for my son before he redeploys and I expect he will accept.
It is available online at racing supply/clothing sites.

What is your ass worth?
lc

My friend that was burned so badly from the knees down has made a ~95% recovery.
The main issue at this point is the rather intense itching of the skin graphs-and the skin does not hold up well to scratching it. This is suppose to subside with time, but it appears to be in no hurry.

BTW-If you or a loved one suffers serious burns, there is absolutely no better care/treatment anywhere than Harbor View Burn Center in Seattle (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harborview_Medical_Center).

LC, glad your buddy's making progress!

This is what we get: http://polartec.com/markets/military/us ... emble.aspx

+

http://www.massif.com/military/us-army-free.html

But like dog pilot said, the white longjohns are flame resistant and warm, I wear them when my other stuff's in the wash.