Special conditions UNIFORM FABRIC CONSIDERATIONS
In business aviation, there is a variety of appropriate crew attire. Most flight departments require business dress, some operate in a more casual environment.
When it comes to fighting a fire, what you are wearing is important. Firefighters wear extreme fire resistant clothing, helmets and breathing apparatus. Although that may not be possible for the flight crew, attention should be paid to attire. Consider cotton pants will last nearly 10 times longer than pantyhose! Some fabrics add fuel to the fire while others increase your survival.
In February 1997, a series of fabric burn tests were conducted at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University as part of the Aircraft Crash Survival Investigation course. The tests were intended to understand the burning characteristics of the materials, including behavior of the fabric when exposed to heat, and the time it took to consume the material. Each type of material was subjected to 2 tests, and the times averaged. Each of the results are as follows:
BURN FABRIC
100% Cotton (linen) jacket 100% Cotton Sweatshirt poly/wool (60/40%) pants poly/cotton (70/30%) shirt 100% cotton pants (Docker’s) 100% cotton pants (thin) 100% Flannel Shirt 100% Dacron Blouse polyester pantyhose
100% cotton pants (Levi’s) pajamas, fire-resistant Nomex III undershirt
19 Inflight Fire and Smoke
CHARACTERISTICS burned, charred
burned, charred melted, ignited
melted, dripped, ignited charred, decomposed charred, decomposed ignited, charred melted, dripped melted with flame
charred, decomposed melted with flame local charring only
FIRE
CONSUMPTION TIME 24 seconds
33 seconds 21 seconds 14 seconds 75 seconds 35 seconds 19 seconds 24 seconds 8 seconds 72 seconds 66 seconds
test stopped at 180 seconds
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