Don't let a Marine see that.

IR,

It is a balance of risk wrt the use of Gnd Pattern boots in an aviation role. As STH states, the MK1 boots are £186 and climbing, whereas lowa/Meindle etc are a 1/3 of the price. It will be economy of scale which will drive the procurement, unless a definitive requirement is laid down! Although, I am aware that the system is looking at alternative FR Bellville Booots to replace the MK1, again at a fraction of the price.

Good point Clicker :ooh:.

CBTL I agree, the important thing is to set the correct requirements and not change them to match the cheapest option. Economies of scale are one thing but they must be fit for purpose, otherwise we would all wear CS95 and T shirts (which works great until you have an incident and it gets hot!)

If you are interested in saving money just buy brown boots instead of black, that would allow you to wear them with desert or green uniform and we would only need half as many. How many of us wear the desert boots when flying just so that the colour matches the flying suit?

As for tread patterns, from what I have seen the Mk1 does sometimes pick up the odd small piece of gravel <5mm, but standard ground patterns are much worse and almost always have a stone or two in the sole.

Aren't boots important?
 

From reading the thread it seems that wearing the "official" flying boot and only the official flying boots is not mandatory for aircrew in the RAF.

However I remember reading (at pprune maybe) that the BAe Hawk had to "re-certify" with IAF flying boots and do extra test flights, because they had to check that the feet fit on the rudder and had full movement or were compatible with the ejection seat. So being "official" must be important.

Or am I missing something?

Worf - yes you are missing the fact that RAF aircrew (inc me) make up their own rules or ignore existing rules far too often. Problem is sometimes you have to but knowing where to draw the line is difficult.

Massive. Right?

Flying Navy boots...
 

Sad I know but... I recall a friend of mine who served on board the Ark Royal in the 70's saying that a USN exchange (Phantom) pilot was given the nickname 'Boots' because of his desire to fly in Cowboy Boots...:eek:

But perhaps the 'Dark Blues' had a different set of rules???

There must be someone on here that remembers this person?

Why wear your own footware when Betty's are free and can be exchanged as required?

On the Nimrod we were allowed to wear ordinary shoes; it was rare that people did and that went for the Sim too. The seat runners used to rip the leather heels of my flying boots to shreds.

There was a fashion at one time to buy spam zipped toungues that could be laced into the boots. The flying boot had 7 or 8 holes and the spam zip had 8 or 9. All it showed is you had been to Kef or some BX.

zips
 

I was told they use to issue flying boots with lace in zippers at one time???
I thought the fashion was to wear the gucci issue proboots or danner boots.

Regards:ok:

Wierdly enough it's the a/c release that specifies what the crew can wear these days. Personally I've found Hunters perfect if my steed was parked in a muddy field, good walking boots if it was somewhere snowy, desert boots for you-know-where, and flying boots for IF trips and Staneval rides (also perfect for the sim trips I do these days!)

D**n! Must change my specs - I was expecting to read about Sunderlands and Catalinas and things.

While we're on the topic of aircrew attire, what gets worn underneath flying suits? I've always wondered. :P

Their lucky Winnie the Pooh jim-jams.

Seriously Calumwn, it depends.

The base layer is usually cotton long johns and cotton T-shirt - although many people dispense with them - they are the final flameproof layer and also sweat absorber.

Then there is the long sleeved aircrew T-shirt. Bit of a dog this one. Early ones shrank and the back would come down to mid-spine.

In cold climes, on top of this is a one-piece thermal. Not sure what they use now but at one time it was a stiff one-piece acrylan pile. Good bit of kit and ideal for a thermal layer in the North Sea, not so good when evading on land.

An alternative was a one-piece chunky knit suit. More flexible than the acrylan.

Fast Jet crews then wear a waterproof dry suit with a flying overall on top and then G-pants.

Wearing that lot would be good for their fitness test :}