wrote:

George Shirley wrote:

--cut--

My god, that was hot work, trying to get some rest/sleep while
lying back in the midrest seats alongside the open overwing
hatches listening to the hellish pounding of the slipstream
there. The bunks were unuseable due to the heat. You guys now
have it easy in airconditioned comfort!...
--

-Gord.

Nomex is well known in the oil refining industry as being hot in the
summer and cold in the winter. It only protects against flash fires up
to about 900F AFAIK and you ain't gonna make it if the fire is really
bad. Personally I always preferred cotton clothing when I was a plant
operator and still wear cotton and wool by preference. Hopefully my
Nomex coveralls are hanging in the closet forever. VBG

George, wearing his safety consultant hat again


Y'know, this is a favourite subject of mine. We wear Nomex for
years and years with all the attendant discomfort that it gives
us just to protect 'someone' for a few seconds of 'flash fire'
maybe. Seems like a silly thing to do, it's like we provide a
'fireguard' for every a/c engine start when it'll maybe do some
good on some start ten years in the future. I've likely started
thousands of aircraft engines and NEVER had an engine fire on
start, moreover, I've never even seen one. That spread out over
26 years of service. Never even SEEN one, let alone HAD one
myself, let alone had one myself which was put out by the fire
guard!!.

Seems a huge waste of manpower to me...yet it was drilled into
us...NEVER START without a fire guard!...and I did once too,
still feel a twinge of guilt...
--

-Gord.

The problem in the American hydrocarbon processing industry is that
Nomex is required in most areas where hydrocarbons are stored,
processed, or handled. If you don't wear the stuff and someone does get
burned, OSHA is really quick on hitting you with wilfull and serious
violations. That means the company can be fined up to $70K per employee
present per violation. It's cheaper to pay the money for the
uncomfortable stuff that everyone hates than to let employees wear 13
ounce cotton.

In over 40 years in the industry I have been involved in more than one
flash fire and, in my first one, I was wearing long sleeve cotton khaki
shirt, cotton khaki trousers, cotton gloves, etc. I got first degree
burns on my face and a second degree on my right ear. The two instrument
hands with me got multiple third degree burns because they were wearing
polyester slacks and shirts. You know how proper Tiffies are.

I didn't fare any better wearing Nomex years later. Same type of burns
in the same places. The next time I went through one it burned my ass
because I was already running when it went. Didn't hurt me though, just
sped me on my way.

I used to wonder about the fire guard on starting the old prop jobs I
crewed on Gord but did it anyway. Orders is orders as they say.

George