Originally Posted by
CaptFuzz
And here I thought that when I was wearing a flight suit it was a functional uniform item and a matter of safety in the cockpit.
If you really want to talk about the dismantling of a proud military career field, look at missilers. They had their blue suits replaced by a less functional (for them) green nomex one, and their missile badges were turned into some silly "space wings" (though they eventually reconsidered the badge for the guys who actually sit in the bunkers).
So true CaptFuzz. It is funny that you called it a uniform item. Wasn't it the air force that wanted to put pleats into it or something like that quite a few years ago in order to make it into a uniform item? I remember being told it was a specifically a piece of flight gear and NOT a uniform - therefore all of those rules about where we could and could not wear them - sometimes even having change into a flight suit AFTER we had arrived at the squadron and change back back prior to going home! Or stories (second person) of having to change into the flight suit before your flight and then changing back out and into your *uniform* after your flight. Jeez!
We've gotten a litle off track with the thread and I am much to blame for that. Sorry to the OP.
I am watching an episode of Modern Marvels on Discovery Channel. This one is one Extreme Flying Machines. They started with the fighters, moved on to the bombers and now are focusing on RPV. There was one featured called the BATCAM (weighing 0.8 lbs). They also had one called an Orthicopter (I think). They even had one developed that fluttered like a small bird that weighed 0.3 lbs - but only had 3 minutes of fuel on board. There is no doubt that the technology is rapidly growing (like computers - outdated and slow within months) and more and more applications are apparent.
Oh....not they are showing the DC-10 firefighting aircraft (must be a little old or they would be showing Evergreen's 747 tanker) Back to the show!
USMCFLYR