Flight suit

ECO Margaret "Racetrack" Edmondson, wearing a flight suit with helmet.

A flight suit is basically a pressure suit garment. Flight suits are worn by both Viper and Raptor crews during missions, and the humanoid Cylons piloting Heavy Raiders.

Colonial Flight Suit

Colonial military flight crews wear flight suits, sometimes referred to as "jock smocks".

The flight suit is an airtight, one-piece jumpsuit with a single front zipper that runs from neck to waist; a detachable two-piece vest covering the chest is affixed by snaps across the shoulders and chest. Pressure gloves are attached by soft pressure seals incorporated in the sleeves, with a cuff itself featuring an integrated digital watch, its location based on the pilot's preference (TRS: "33"). The arms and legs of the suit feature various zippered and flap pockets, as well as pouch compartments, for stowage of equipment such as atmosphere test capsules and oxygen gauges (TRS: "You Can't Go Home Again", "Resurrection Ship, Part II").

Sharon "Boomer" Valerii's and Karl "Helo" Agathon's flight suit indicators; Boomer's being green while Helo's is red after the shrapnel punctures his suit (TRS: "Miniseries, Night 1").

The suit is attached to the flight helmet by a hard metal collar; the helmet receives pressurizing air through a hose at the back of the helmet. The suit's basic environmental adjustments are managed by a small series of buttons on the left forearm, featuring a strip of indicator lighting through a covered window. When fully pressurized, the indicator strip illuminates green; it is lit red when the suit is compromised. As the pilot begins the process of removing their suit, this indicator's LED strip begins deactivating in sequence from left to right before powering off (TRS: "Miniseries, Night 1").

Suit footwear is capable of magnetic attachment to surfaces for situations requiring EVAs, such as SARs (TRS: "A Day in the Life", "Razor").

The flight suit appears suitable as all-weather gear when in rainy or cool conditions, but its lack of armor provides no significant protection during hand-to-hand or fire team combat situations (TRS: "33", "Valley of Darkness").

Close-up of Starbuck's hard-seal collar.

When not in ready status, the suit can be worn unzipped for comfort, with the top half of the suit rolled down. Standard uniform undershirts are worn underneath the flight suit. Flight suits are worn with utility belts to carry a variety of gear, including sidearms.

The basic flight suit design has remained the same since the First Cylon War without major changes, aside from minor changes in material and vest configuration.

An atmospheric green fabric version was observed during the Fall of the Twelve Colonies, as worn by a young William Adama and his children in a photo recovered by Prosna (TRS: "Miniseries"). A black t-shirt was sometimes worn instead of the standard shirt and tank-top combination (Razor Flashbacks, Episode 1).

Checklist Window

A closer look at the upper half of a flight suit.

The left leg of the flight suit features a windowed pocket containing a checklist card, oriented to be readable by the wearer when in the seated position. The card for the viper pilots read as follows:

Viper Pre Flight Checklist

1. Pre Flight

External Inspection.....................................Okay
Flight Controls............................................Okay
Tanks filled ................................................Okay
Canopy Locks and explosive bolts to safe.....Okay
Seat Motors ...............................................Okay
Weapons to safe ........................................Okay

2. Start Check

Viper Pre Flight Checklist

Area..........................................................Clear
Comms......................................................Up
Tacom/Satnav.............................................Up
Canopy Bolts..............................................Armed
Escape Seat...............................................Armed
Engine Systems in the Green.......................Green
Weapons in the Green..........Weapons set to Armed

3. Launch Tube Check

Area............................................................Clear
Blast Doors..................................................Open
Heads Up Display.........................................On
Tac/Nav........................................................To Active
Flaps...........................................................15 degrees down angle
Engines........................................................85%
Assume Launch Position................................Okay
LSO Launch Signal........................................Okay
Master Caution Cold Shot Warning..................Set

Flight Suit as Manned Maneuvering Unit

Kara "Starbuck" Thrace with MMU thrusters on flight suit vest during the Battle of the Guardian Basestar (TRS: "Razor").

Flight suits can be modified as manned maneuvering units (MMUs) in space, with reaction control thrusters mounted on the shoulders atop the vest (TRS: "Razor").

Backpack

Kara "Starbuck" Thrace's EVA backpack and survival satchel (TRS: "You Can't Go Home Again").

Flight suits are also fitted with a backpack featuring a parachute (TRS: "You Can't Go Home Again") and an air tank with a limited supply (TRS: "You Can't Go Home Again", "Resurrection Ship, Part II", "Razor").

When pilots are deployed, a separate zippered satchel with survival equipment is affixed to the backpack. Equipment within the satchel includes tape, water packets, and other survivalist tools (TRS: "You Can't Go Home Again").

Utility Belt

Suits feature a utility belt with various pouches for equipment, including a holster with sidearm.

Gallery

• 

  Flight suit watch cuff (TRS: "33").

• 

  Kara "Starbuck" Thrace's survival kit on the red moon (TRS: "You Can't Go Home Again").

Cylon Flight Suit

Eights and Sixes in flight suits.

Humanoid Cylons piloting Heavy Raiders wear all-black flight suits made of a sleek material (TRS: "The Hub"). It is unknown whether or not these flight suits have hard seals or helmets.

Notes

• In the episodes "You Can't Go Home Again" and "Act of Contrition," Kara Thrace uses her flight suit to its fullest, from her ejection from her wayward Viper to her parachute landing, and monitoring of life support mechanisms using the gauges built into the suit.
• The suits are designed to keep a pilot who has ejected from his Viper alive in a vacuum for a limited amount of time, such as when Lee Adama has to eject from the Blackbird in "Resurrection Ship, Part II".
• It appears that Galactica rarely has the opportunity for SAR operations to retrieve pilots after combat with Cylon forces. Often the battlestar must retreat with the Fleet, leaving any surviving Viper pilots to either be captured by the Cylons or die once their oxygen runs out.
• The flight suits were designed by Deborah Everton, and were constructed from materials produced by Sommers Plastic Products.

Re-imagined Series definition: initial skills training; can refer to basic military indoctrination, and arms and ground training (TRS: "Fragged"); and basic flight training (TRS: "Miniseries")

Re-imagined Series definition: basic fighting element used in small-unit ground tactics (TRS: "Valley of Darkness")

Original Series definition: marriage

Re-imagined Series definition: officer responsible for flight operations of either a battlestar or battlestar group