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RESEARCH ON WEARING CONDITIONS AND SATISFACTION FOR USER-CENTERED KOREAN FLIGHT SUIT DESIGN
A flight suit worn by fighter pilots in the Korea Air Force is in the form of coveralls and can be donned/doffed with a slide fastener located on the center front of the body. This all-in-one styled garment encompasses the easy movement of an Air Force pilot in the cockpit (Choi, 2012) as well as protects from flames in an emergency. The standard Korean flight suit was designed based on a modulated American flight suit (Jeon, Park, You, & Kim, 2010); however, it is necessary to develop a new Korean flight suit with a Korean pilot-centered design. This study investigates wearing conditions and satisfaction of Korean flight suit wearers and provides basic data for a user-centered Korean flight suit design. Researchers visited two Korea Air Force wings and interviewed the fighter pilots. The results of the interview were derived through a questionnaire. The main topics of the questionnaire were: demographics, actual wearing conditions, size/fit, subjective perceptions of comfort on mobility, satisfaction of appearance, frequency of pocket usage, improvement requirements and fabric satisfaction. A total 439 questionnaires were collected in January 2015 and 428 used for analysis analyzed (except for 11 female responders).The average age of respondents was 29.12±4.67 years old and their mean work experience was 5.96±4.46 years. Over half of those questioned were captains(52.6%).The results of the questionnaires are summarized as follows. First, only 45.8% of respondents filled their chest size; however, most of them completed their height and weight. There were 52.8% who referred to their height (or used eye measurement)when selecting the flight suit size, even though the actual sizing system for Korean flight suits suggests a height and chest size by choice. It is necessary to offer new guidelines in which the wearer could select their size easier. Second, the summer flight suit appearance satisfaction was significantly lower(p<0.01) than winter flight suits and could infer (based on the pre-interview responses) that the air- summer suit vents might be a factor that lowered the appearance satisfaction. Third, the responders felt crotch and shoulder inconvenience during body motions; therefore, it is important to set quantitative standard of ease based upon the extension of skin surface and anthropometric properties of pilots. Forth, questions on suit fabric indicated that they were generally satisfied with protection characteristics such as anti-electrostatic qualities (3.27±0.78, 5-point Likert scale) while comfort characteristics such as thermal insulation, absorbency and elasticity indicated a relatively low satisfaction (2.39±0.794, 2.99±0.87 and 2.65±0.83 respectively, 5-point Likert scale). Therefore, fabric development is also needed to improve user satisfaction. Fifth, survey respondents had a negative opinion on changing flight sites. They preferred improvements in quality or better ease of length and width. Therefore, we have to find a way to improve flight suit function with respect to current designs rather than pursuing a dramatic change of appearance.
