wearing a helmet flying

[Tom Charpentier]

There have been studies that suggest most preventable deaths in aviation are the result of head trauma. That certainly makes sense given your head is probably the most critical and most vulnerable part of your body in an impact. While I'd always suggest starting out by investing in good shoulder harnesses, they don't guarantee your head will stay away from the panel in a crash, so a helmet is potentially a layer of safety in any aircraft.

You have to decide what the cost-benefit is for you, but operations such as bush flying could put you at elevated risk and might make a helmet worth it. I've even mulled getting one for myself, and I'm usually not doing anything more than run of the mill GA flying. I always wear a helmet while riding a bicycle and almost always wear at least an inflatable lifejacket while boating. I just feel like it's stupid to get into a survivable incident and then be seriously hurt or killed because I wasn't wearing the right equipment. Is a helmet for recreational flying overkill, or is our flying culture just more tolerant of that kind of risk? I'm not sure.

There are tradeoffs with every layer of safety. We might prevent a few fatalities a year if we all wore nomex flight suits and gloves, military-style boots, and helmets. While some pilots do choose to wear that, many of us are content to simply wear non-synthetics for fire resistance and leave it there. It's a decision we all have to make but we ought to make sure we don't let anyone make that choice for us.

[Bob Dingley]

I grew up in Maine, learned to fly Cubs there and also flew for the Guard. Knew some bush pilots too. The fact that none endorse helmets means little to me. They seem to come from the same gene pool as the Maine lobster men. Another group that I ran with. Those guys have always taken a perverse pride in not knowing how to swim. See a pattern?

I wore the APH-4 & 5, the "ballistic helmet" and the SPH-4 when serving the flag.. All good. One other benefit not mentioned is that they also protect your hearing very well if you fly turbines. Some flight surgeons want you to bring your helmet to the exam so that they can check the fit and remove those pads from the chin straps if you still had them. The USAF once came out with a dual visor model. One clear, one tinted, but lab tests proved that it was a few ounces too heavy, could provide excess inertia to the head and cause spinal injuries. I saw the films of the cadaver tests. Acro pilots should go for lighter weight.

Commercial helo operators with federal contracts under the Office of Aviation Services must provide helmets for crew and passengers.

IMHO its all risk based. First flight in a EAB rates a helmet.

Bob

[Flyfalcons]

In my years flying Beavers I figured that if I needed to wear a helmet to be safe then I probably wasn't doing a good job on the ADM side of flying.

[Mike67]

Thanks for the good replys, I was thinking I was going to be bashed here. I think the military helmets are a little over kill for the type of flying I do. Low & slow. I'm looking at the David Clark K10 helmet. I all ready have the DC H10-13X headset that I like. A lot of you comented on the military helmets. Anyone know anything about this helmet or equivlent?

[Bill Greenwood]

Mike, I have used the David Clark helmet and it predecessor for 20 years, fortunately without having it tested in a crash.
In summary, I think it is a lot better than no helmet, but it is not something heavy duty like a motorcycle racer would wear, like the ones my Son so thoroughly and repeatedly crash tested.

The DC doesn't cover all the way down to the base of your skull and it doesn't have as much thick insulation inside at the other ones. But it is much lighter, cooler and more comfortable, and of course it uses the excellent DC headsets, and some other brands might fit also. I sent my headset to Headsets, Inc., in Amarillo to have noise cancelling added and it works fairly well in a high noise environment.

I have two stories of helmets and the lack of. About 20 years ago a warbird pilot was doing some low level acro in a basic trainer and crashed. The impact might have been survivable, except he did not wear a helmet and his forehead hit an instrument knob on the panel.

Another pilot, Craig Hoskings, was flying airshows in a Pitts modified with landing gear on the top and bottom so that he could land and takeoff inverted, quite an act.
He hit the ground hard out of a standard inside loop. I saw this myself at Salt Lake #2. He hit at perhaps 100 mph, bounced, hit again and the plane was badly damaged. But he had every safety device short of an airbag; dual seat belts, shoulder harness and a heavy duty full helmet and he walked away, shaken and sore, but uninjured.
His helmet had an impact dent right in the forehead, but it protected the pilot.

[lyle85213]

I'm building a HiMax which has a simple roll cage in it. Being a tail-dragger, a few pilots have "tested" the roll cage and it appears to work. Still, I'm getting a helmet before I fly mine. I'm going to get one that works with the headset I already have. I really don't want to spend another $1000 for a helmet with headphone when I have a headset I like. I know I could get a used helmet for much less but buying a used helmet is like buying a used Jock strap. I saw some leather ones and also one that was canvas with ceramic "armor".

[WLIU]

Not sure you can have too many headsets, at least if you sometimes fly an airplane that can carry a passenger.

As for the cost of helmets, the question is what is your head worth? Helmets are cheap compared to the cost of reconstructive surgery and traumatic brain injury treatment. It is a trade-off, but if you don't have a cheap head, you probably don't want to make "cheap" the primary criteria for your helmet purchase. Darwin always lurks.

Best of luck,

Wes

[bboss74]

I've got about 3k hours in an HGU-56, and can attest that's its a stout helmet. I've banged the living heck out of them, and they've always protected my noggin. I think over the years, my favorite uncle (Sam) has given me maybe 5 of them to abuse. Thats with 2 mandatory exchanges due to damage. Only complaints are the restriction of peripheral vision and bulk compared to the SPH series. Otherwise they are pretty lightweight and comfortable. I've worn one for about 15 hours straight. The Army won't go to anything different due to the superior crash rating on the -56 vs. any of the others, from what I've heard.

[Kurt Flunkn]

I built up a DYI flight helmet using a the shell and liner from an HGU-68 (you can also use an HGU-55). Helmet parts are available at:

http://www.flighthelmet.com/

The I used the "guts" from an old headset (speakers, wiring, connectors, etc) and purchased an Oregon Aero hush kit as headset and helmet foam are different sizes.

http://www.oregonaero.com/hushkit/hushkit-selection

All up this helmet was less than $400 and I consider this an important piece of safety equipment.

[Mike M]

Thanks for the good replys, I was thinking I was going to be bashed here. I think the military helmets are a little over kill for the type of flying I do. Low & slow. I'm looking at the David Clark K10 helmet. I all ready have the DC H10-13X headset that I like. A lot of you comented on the military helmets. Anyone know anything about this helmet or equivlent?

For your intended use, that helmet should be adequate. Not too heavy, better than no helmet.