Winter Weather Attire/Gear

For those of you who instruct up north, what do you wear and/or require your students to wear to keep warm? Do you have any temperature mins?

Here we have a policy on required attire (coats, pants, shoes, gloves, hat) for winter weather, however it isn't very strictly enforced. Especially now, when the weather is getting warmer and the snow is melting, my students show up for flights in sweatshirts or t-shirts. Above 40 degrees they start wearing shorts and flip flopspanic It would be unsafe if we had to make an emergency landing and were stranded outside. Let alone walking through a field, wood, slough, ect, in shorts and flip flops would suck a lot in any weather, let alone 40ish degrees.

Nagging doesn't seem to work. Any tricks to get the point across?

We don't have a policy as far as attire goes.

We tell then to use common sense, and have only had one issue so far in two years. Most of our students are older recreational flyers rather than college students, so I think that may be a big part of it. The one we had an issue with was a college student FWIW.

Maybe a little john and a lady J from sporty's hehe

my advice: plan on being in a rural setting for at least 12 hours until rescue (and that's a positive outlook) and if you caouldn't do it you're not prepared to fly.

yeah... throw an old jacket in the back of the plane. and some pants.

and some food. and some water.

and a canoe.

and a mirror.

and a medical kit...

.... slippery slope, slippery slope!

I personally wont fly with a guy wearing sandles... and I look at a guy flying with shorts kinda wierd.

surprising coming from someone in AZ where the desert is all around you. I suppose a good read might be Barry Schiff's descriptive account of dying from dehydration.

slippery slope? I take offense. I suspect you've never flown in Alaska or Maine, or in the rockies and not around them.

There are too may accounts of downed planes and the people who could have survived after the crash.

Hat, gloves, boots, and jacket are required for flight when temperatures are under 32F, at UND. They won't dispatch the flight otherwise. I didn't have my gloves one time but they didn't catch it, so it isn't really that strict, but I wouldn't want to be ramp checked on the way back. When flying in a cold environment proper clothing is super important. I wouldn't have my required items just because its a rule but rather because if we did happen to crash, I really wouldn't want to be caught without clothing. Hypothermia is serious business. anic:

joking about the canoe....

Sorry for the confusion, I have typed up my response in the wrong manner apparently...

I was trying to allude to 'how many things' you could theoretically bring with.... and how complex this can get in different situations.

In the AIM it says to use "kool-aid" for signaling in an off airport landing.... but how many people think to put a colored liquid in their flight bag?

Most people I see dont bring jack squat. So what are the main things we should be telling everyone to bring?

water- but how much?
food- but how much?
extra clothing- but how much?
sleeping bags?
matches
flashlights
knife

i totally agree with moxie, plan on being wherever youre at for at least, and this is a big AT LEAST... 12 hours, even just cfi'ing in a practice area.

there is operational things that are under-rated.
-flight plans
-knowing the center freq of airliners passing overhead
-writing on a markerboard where you are going and a be back time.

I fly in the rockies all the time, telluride the other day! heck man half of arizona is mountains! routinely fly pistons around the southwest. I swear by these things!

I came across this the other day...
http://www.findmespot.com/home.aspx

I think the Kool aid is ment to be carried dry, then mixed with water and sprayed over snow for a signaling device. just a thought though.

Sadly, most every flight i go on is within gliding distance of a 7-11. My favorite gear I see pilots around LA with is floating seat cushions. Pilots use them when they are flying across the Catalina channel at low altitude (26 miles of 53 degree water). I just smile and tell them it is a good idea since it will keep their cold dead corpse floating and they will be easier to find. Me, i climb really high before I cross that cold water!

just as added information, since I didn't have the book yesterday; an excerpt from Barry Schiff's Proficient Pilot, Vol. 3:

"I am not sure which is more sinful, having emergency equipment and not being able to use it or not having it available in the first place...
The least expensive and most easily attainable survival equipment is water, but only a few pilots bother to carry a supply on cross-country flights....describing what it is like to die of dehydration in a desert climate.

The temperature in the sun can reach more than 150*F. In an attempt to remain cool, the body perspires and loses up to 2.5 pints of water per hour. After a day or so, however, sweating ceases becaue the bosy has no more water to give. The tongue swells, and speaking becomes impossible.

Crash survivors develop such a raging, overwhelming urge to drink that they resort to drinking urine, fuel and oil. Delierium sets in, and people imagine that the sand or dirt is a lake and begin to "drink" it, but the throat is so swollen that swallowing is impossible.

Water can no longer save such a person. A cut does not bleed because the blood is too thick. Body temperature rises. And just befor ethis gruesome, agonizing death, some may discover that thay have just enough water to cry tears of pain...."

Typical winter outer wear for me is long johns, danner goretex insulated boots, carhartt insulated exteme bibs, snowmobile gloves, insulated work gloves, carhartt sweater and a goretex parka and knit beanie.