Army's newest flight gear..

[Pags]

Pags -- the bdu pockets aren't that bad -- I fly with the two piece flight suit in the desert. I prefer it.

The nice thing about the army system is that it has the ability to combine body armor with vest -- rather that two separate pieces.

I don't understand why the survival suits are that expensive that it would prohibit buying other things. Many squadrons that I have been at have bought the suits and found money for other oregon aero stuff. Sounds like some BS to me.

Yeah, just a first impression about the BDU style pockets. I've got an Aussie in my class that wears a 2 piece flight suit, but I'm pretty sure it has the same pockets as my one piece.

The armor compatibility is something I didn't think about until after I posted, but I've never had to use armor with the airsafe, so I don't have an informed opinion on that one.

I'm told that the survival suits are about $1k a pop, so that's sucking up a lot of money. I tend to think that a lot of it comes back to the fact that not many people in my squadron have used this stuff, so no one knows what they're missing, with the exception of the new cold weather stuff.

Like I said before, I tend to think that most people don't know what the alternative is and very few people get a chance to form an opinion on what's better and make an informed decision. Maybe NAVAIR should have some sort of conference where squadrons send reps to provide their input kinda like NATOPS, or have some sort of traveling road show that shows off what else is out there and lets average joe helo driver test flight some stuff.

 

[HooverPilot]

We have the GAT & SSWG (Safety S**** Working Group) conferences pretty frequently where we raise these issues. Maybe it's just my community that tries to bring the squadron users into these conferences. Could be worth asking about.

Sorry about not having the names for the acronyms, maybe Bunky can flesh it out for me.

 

[Pags]

Check out the PR's available gear catalog sometimes and you can see all the gucci stuff that they don't let us buy.

Yeah, I managed to sneak a peek at the PR catalog one day...they told me they don't like the pilots and aircrew to look at it because then everyone comes to them with xmas lists...which might be part of the problem there.

I agree that NAVAIR should be doing all of the real work, but i'd tend to think that they'd need to know that there was a problem area so they could justify spending R&D money on it. So, the engineers either need to come around to the squadrons to hear what people want/need, or the squadrons need to talk to them. It seems like the SEALs are a lot better at getting the stuff they want for the end user(yeah, i know it's SOCOM's money and not NAVAIR and a different process, etc).

 

[Flash]

Yeah, I managed to sneak a peek at the PR catalog one day...they told me they don't like the pilots and aircrew to look at it because then everyone comes to them with xmas lists...which might be part of the problem there.

I agree that NAVAIR should be doing all of the real work, but i'd tend to think that they'd need to know that there was a problem area so they could justify spending R&D money on it. So, the engineers either need to come around to the squadrons to hear what people want/need, or the squadrons need to talk to them. It seems like the SEALs are a lot better at getting the stuff they want for the end user(yeah, i know it's SOCOM's money and not NAVAIR and a different process, etc).

I think part of the problem is that they depend on the squadrons to buy a lot of the gucci gear, which I think is a bass ackwards way of doing it. It should be NAVAIR that leads the way on this issue, maybe HeyJoe has some insight.

 

[Pags]

We have the GAT & SSWG (Safety S**** Working Group) conferences pretty frequently where we raise these issues. Maybe it's just my community that tries to bring the squadron users into these conferences. Could be worth asking about.

Sorry about not having the names for the acronyms, maybe Bunky can flesh it out for me.

I've never heard of such a thing, but that's not too surprising.

 

[Gatordev]

Personally, I think they should make an AIRSAVE, even just the vest (no radio/flares/etc.) part of everyone's initial gear issue when they enter the jet pipeline. Those things are great when they're fit to you, but a pain when issued as pool gear.

Welcome to 8 months ago. Everyone gets them now in Primary.

 

[MasterBates]

Studs still flying with Pool SV2's down here in Corpus..

 

[HokiePilot]

One of my friends here at Corpus got an AIRSAVE for her time here. She has to give it back when she completes though.

 

[Harrier Dude]

I've never heard of such a thing, but that's not too surprising.

SSWG=Safety Systems Working Group

I've been to several in the Harrier community. We go over all the hazreps and SIRs for the year and come up with a "Top Ten" list of safety things that we want. Greater fleet input helps make these things work better. You've got reps from NAVAIR, Depot, Boeing (in our case), the Naval Safety Center, and all kinds of engineers and 20 pound brain guys. Sometimes good things happen there.

 

[HooverPilot]

SSWG=Safety Systems Working Group

I've been to several in the Harrier community. We go over all the hazreps and SIRs for the year and come up with a "Top Ten" list of safety things that we want. Greater fleet input helps make these things work better. You've got reps from NAVAIR, Depot, Boeing (in our case), the Naval Safety Center, and all kinds of engineers and 20 pound brain guys. Sometimes good things happen there.

Thanks Harrier Dude, then names were eluding me but I knew good things could happen @ them.

 

[Pags]

SSWG=Safety Systems Working Group

I've been to several in the Harrier community. We go over all the hazreps and SIRs for the year and come up with a "Top Ten" list of safety things that we want. Greater fleet input helps make these things work better. You've got reps from NAVAIR, Depot, Boeing (in our case), the Naval Safety Center, and all kinds of engineers and 20 pound brain guys. Sometimes good things happen there.

Right on. I'll have to look into these. Is it a NAVAIR run thing?

 

[phrogpilot73]

The engineers are having fits over this one - something about it's not possible for that to happen...

I'm finding that this is a disturbing trend... When I try to offer suggestions/advice (a.k.a. "my job") the engineers look down their nose at me and tell me how the math doesn't support what I'm saying. They live in a world that only involves math.

 

[Oh-58Ddriver]

Most of the bulk you see in that photo is from ammunition. I am not sure you guys carry as much. I have 8 M4 magazines attached to me in that photo, 6 high on my chest under my vest (not part of the airwarrior) and another 2 in one of the forward pockets.

Also, the armor and the vest are two separate pieces. But, other than the placement of the medical items, there is no SOP on where to have everything, so you are free to do as you like. Some people have the knife/seatbelt cutter on their leg, some on their vest, some wear their pistol on their leg, some on the vest, some with a shoulder holster under it all.

Oh, and we do have to add the over-water kit when we are back in Hawaii - heeds bottle and flotation collar. But luckily, we get rid of the body armor at that time too...

I will add that most people have to take out the back seat cushion in order to have enough room to move the cyclic around. But, our motorscooter has never been known to have a lot of room.

Phrog - that is a HF. Unfortunately, it stayed on the rail that day

 

[HooverPilot]

I happened to pick up the most recent Approach Magazine at work and saw this good article about PMA 202 & Navair. It specifically talks about what we are debating here and it talks about how to get new items approved and funded, etc.

Their website is here. The PMA 202 site requires a DOD PKI certificate so check it from work.

 

[Harrier Dude]

Right on. I'll have to look into these. Is it a NAVAIR run thing?

I think it was NAVAIR. To be honest, I can't remember who ran it for sure. It was usually inconjunction with the OAG (Operational Advisory Group) that does all the "We want XXXX that give us the ability to do XXXXX" kind of priorities. Things like radar upgrades and new targeting pods.