Grey insulation in military aircraft
 

Hello all,
purely out of interest, what's the name of that grey-coloured, quilted insulation you often see lining military aircraft flight decks and cabins?
Has a shiny, plasticky surface appearance, but no doubt fireproof...
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6215/...780aac28_b.jpg

Soundproofing

On the RAF C130K it was not soundproofing but merely an insulation blanket between the a/c skin and the cabin. As for being fireproof it gave off Phosgene gas and other noxious gases when heated to approx 800 degrees C.

On the RAF C130J it did a remarkably good job of keeping all the engine noise inside the aircraft.

Knowing RAF/MODPE it was probably twice the cost of the stuff that would keep the noise out, too!

CG

If I remember correctly one of the factors contributing the Swissair crash off the Canadian coast in the late 1990s was that the cabin insulation in the aircraft was flammable and helped spread the fire above and behind the cockpit area. Not the actual cause of it but it helped spread the fire.

It was a major contribution to the fatalities after the Belgian AF crashed at Eindhoven. When I did the HEART job we visited Abbey Wood to ask a few questions ref the' J' which was still waiting to be introduced into service. They knew nothing of the insulation blanket problems nor of any of the other materials in the cargo compartment. They were also ignorant, among many other things of the noise problems on the 'J' which we had heard on the grapevine were much worse then the 'K' !

When Sea King AEW Mk2s became the first a/c to have an integrated ANR in 1997, the scientists said one of the 'selling points' would be the system negated the need for soundproofing, thus reducing weight, and increasing fuel load and time on task.

It was pointed out that the real purpose of 'soundproofing' was to protect the precious wiring, hydraulic pipes, etc. underneath it from prying fingers and stray boots. Only the soundproofing out of harms way could be removed, and only then if the a/c remained within CogG limits; which was marginal.

At the time, the main cause of failure of one of the MAW LRUs beneath the seats in the Mk4 was 'bayonet insertion' into the cooling intake/fan, by bored RMs.

That Risbridger would be better-off sitting in the well behind the three-man seat in a cut-down detergent drum. Oh, and you could hardly call it "soundproofing", more like a barrier between the pax and various fluids. View out the front was much better.

In a Lynx? My instructor described it as sitting inside the hallway of a bungalow and looking out through the letterbox.:sad:

Better than the square window in the cabin door....

Which a few, usually Booties, thought WAS the cabin door.

Salute!

Do not overlook the other considerations of that batting.
In one plane I flew, a variant looked just like that and was fire resistant, but also ballistic resistant! It was like flak jacket material.....

..Gums recalls

It was green on some years of the C-5, varied on supplier, I’d guess.

I think they call the ballistic resistant stuff a "spall liner"

It was a dirty sort of green on the 'K' too.

As an aside when weighing a 747 they used to allow a weight of 1 tonne for condensation with the sound proofing material!!

The Lynx was better than the Wessex - that was frequently described as flying a council house from the upstairs bog window:)

The Sea King had a brilliant soundproofing removal capability - if the drain valve on the heater feed from the combustion chamber to the cabin heating system failed (ie blew out as it was on a 90 degree bend and was prone to vibration fractures) it a. frightened the sh8t out of all the crew as it sounded like something properly major had just gone wrong and b. shredded the soundproofing around it and distributed it around the cabin. Big problem was that you couldn't turn it off, unless you shut down an engine:)

Condensation was between the blanket and the cargo compartment roof was one of the 'K' party tricks. It froze in flight and as you descended it thawed and showered the pax with icy water.

Try the Whirlwind for 'more frame than window' vision!

Heater? Sea King?

Luxury, lad, shear luxury :p You'll be putting the kettle on for a cuppa next, I s'pose ;)

DeHavilland DH106 Comet 4 G-APDB Cockpit

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...DB_Cockpit.JPG