Helicopter survival and aviation immersion suits

An aviation immersion or anti-exposure suit exists for one scenario: a ditching or forced landing on water, where survival time is decided by how long the body holds its core temperature. It is worn during the flight, which is why the practical question is never protection alone — it is whether crew can work a full sector in the suit and still evacuate through a cabin window while wearing it.

That is a separate decision from the flight suit worn on the shift, and from the aircrew life jacket worn with it. Over-water operations usually specify all three together.

NVQ supplies the Switlik aviation range, which splits along how the wearer uses the aircraft. The ETSO pilot suit is built for helicopter pilots operating over hostile sea areas and is approved to ETSO 2C503; the ETSO passenger suit covers transported personnel. The U-Zip-It uses a low-slung U-shaped entry specifically to keep cockpit mobility in a flight-ready anti-exposure suit, and the Falcon is a configurable offshore suit designed around mobility and repeated helicopter transport.

For offshore crew change work, the IOGP 690 ensemble matches an ETSO suit with a MOLLE+ vest and CA-EBS as one specified set, rather than leaving the operator to assemble compatible parts themselves.

Approval, configuration and suitability have to be verified against the specific aircraft, operation and regulatory requirement — a suit approved for one role or sea area does not carry that approval to another. Sizing matters more than in normal apparel, because a suit that is too large floods and a suit that is too small cannot be evacuated in.

These are quote-based products rather than stock items. Tell NVQ the aircraft type, the operation and the number of crew and passengers to be equipped, and we return a configuration and a price. Switlik's full range is on the Switlik survival products page.