helmets
- Thread starter driveacub
- Start date
I think DC helmet is already a compromise to a full fledged helmet safety wise and it has a well ventilated harness. I am in Alaska but haven't felt too hot in it. I think dropping the full protective shell would be a great loss in crashworthiness without much comfort gain or cost savings.
cubdriver2
FRIEND
upstate NY
Bill.Brine
FOUNDER
Massachusetts
I am not an expert.
My experience from over 20 years building helmets for a living tells me I know what I don't know about aircrew helmets.
A well designed helmet can reduce the risk of catastrophic injury and death in sport. The wrong helmet can be worse than no helmet.
I have not found a helmet standard that is written to specifically address the mechanism of injury in a cub like crash.
Some things to think about:
Keeping your head from hitting things is good, with or without a helmet.
Don't crash; easily said by a guy who flies for fun.
Use your head, train with the best instructor you can find, practice and setting limits are good steps to reducing your exposure to crashing.
Aircraft choice. I will say it. Not all planes are created equal and not all pilots are the same size. Big pilot/small plane may not be a good combination. Distance between your head and hard objects with or without a helmet is your friend in a crash.
Using well made shoulder, lap and center straps that are attached to something strong like the airframe is another defense from keeping you from hitting your head.
If you use a helmet be aware of a few things:
Heat fatigue is real danger in the summer.
Just because it looks like a helmet does not make it a helmet.
Watch out for the "gladiator effect". The gladiator effect theory is when one becomes emboldened by safety equipment. Skiing is a good example. Ski helmet usage goes up, minor head injury goes down but catastrophic injury and death rates go up. Why?
The Peltor helmet mentioned by Glenn above meets some interesting standards that include a roll cage impact and are tested with the headset installed. But the Peltor looks hot as hell. The 275 g standard used on the Peltor will nock most of us out cold and kill a few of use. Better than the K10 but what is better?
My experience from over 20 years building helmets for a living tells me I know what I don't know about aircrew helmets.
A well designed helmet can reduce the risk of catastrophic injury and death in sport. The wrong helmet can be worse than no helmet.
I have not found a helmet standard that is written to specifically address the mechanism of injury in a cub like crash.
Some things to think about:
Keeping your head from hitting things is good, with or without a helmet.
Don't crash; easily said by a guy who flies for fun.
Use your head, train with the best instructor you can find, practice and setting limits are good steps to reducing your exposure to crashing.
Aircraft choice. I will say it. Not all planes are created equal and not all pilots are the same size. Big pilot/small plane may not be a good combination. Distance between your head and hard objects with or without a helmet is your friend in a crash.
Using well made shoulder, lap and center straps that are attached to something strong like the airframe is another defense from keeping you from hitting your head.
If you use a helmet be aware of a few things:
Heat fatigue is real danger in the summer.
Just because it looks like a helmet does not make it a helmet.
Watch out for the "gladiator effect". The gladiator effect theory is when one becomes emboldened by safety equipment. Skiing is a good example. Ski helmet usage goes up, minor head injury goes down but catastrophic injury and death rates go up. Why?
The Peltor helmet mentioned by Glenn above meets some interesting standards that include a roll cage impact and are tested with the headset installed. But the Peltor looks hot as hell. The 275 g standard used on the Peltor will nock most of us out cold and kill a few of use. Better than the K10 but what is better?
moneyburner
FRIEND
Western Washington
My Gentex SPH-5 with single visor and 8" 174 cord is 2 lbs 14 oz. It also has a small, battery-powered LED light, but I suspect that only weighs an ounce.
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Randy
FOUNDER
S.Dakota
On the subject of helmets, Bill.Brine brings up some great points about crashworthiness and helmet usage.
I posted this link in another thread about crash injuries in a Cub...
But in case you didn't read that thread...some interesting research in an FAA link concerning restraints, helmets and cockpit structure in agricultural airplane mishaps.,
Its interesting to me how much restraints stretch, or the human body...to enable them to impact lethal objects inside the airplane.
A simple roll of soft aluminum on the top of the panel might save you life...even if using a helmet and decent restraints.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...15.pdf&usg=AFQjCNEClHXbRvzVAAyHt2mPhfF7yzyXtw
BritishCubBloke
SPONSOR
Bellingen, NSW, Australia
SC3CM
Registered User
Anyone else ever get the sense that some people here are a poor judge of their own skills?
behindpropellers
Registered User
NE Ohio
Sold my Gentex, heavy and hot most times of the year.
Get what is comfortable so you wear it. Cost is not a factor for something that will last 10 plus years and thousands of hours.
(I don't always head south with a cub, but when I do, I make sure it is freezing a$$ cold!)
George,
Is that the new strapless head suction helmet
spinner2
MEMBER
Montana
Im new to helmets. But this thread and others plus flying with some guys that all had helmets this summer got me to wondering. So I bought a Comtronics helmet direct. They say it'll fit the Zulu headset and I tried it out today. With the headset on first the helmet slips right over it and as mentioned above there is a groove in the padding that fits around the top band.
Ill get get some more hours on it before I'm convinced but so far I like it.
Gordon Misch
MEMBER
Toledo, Wa (KTDO)
Which model did you purchase?
spinner2
MEMBER
Montana
http://www.comtronics-aero.com/helmets.php
On this page it is the third helmet down item 2006-2
Nice folks to deal with too.
No no idea why it posts upside down. Can't seem to fix it either. Perhaps there is still a bug in SJs new system? Anyway you can see how the Zulu fits.
Attachments
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Bill.Brine
FOUNDER
Massachusetts
George if you are asking me about the Comtronics helmet I cannot tell much about impact attenuation properties by reading the website. It appears that Comtronics is more of a noise attenuation helmet than a crash helmet. No mention of meeting any helmet standard is made in the literature. Also with a half inch of "semi rigid foam" I don't image that impact attenuation is this helmets primary design goal. I could be wrong.
From the website: "All Comtronics helmets have a half inch semirigid foam liner..."
From the website: "All Comtronics helmets have a half inch semirigid foam liner..."
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Bill.Brine
FOUNDER
Massachusetts
Earlier this week I flew a friend two states away to pick up his Sirrus. A 38 minute Sirrus flight was almost 2 hour wonder around the sky at or below 1,000 feet in the Husky; I think he had more fun on the Husky leg of the flight.
My Sirrus driving friend mentioned that he had not warn a headset in years having switched to the Halo in ear system with great results in comfort and noise attenuation. This had me thinking that the ridged ear cups of aviation headsets may cause more harm than good in a side load crash.
The military found that the rigid ear cups in helicopter helmets cause skull fractures in some types of crashes; the military changed the standard as a result of the study and now the cups inside aircrew helmets are softer to reduce the chance of skull fracture.
I also recall a study that looked at increased skull fracture on shortie style motorcycle helmets. Seems the shortie helmets shell rolls over on impact resulting in a skull fracture. Having a rigid piece of material next to the side of your skull is not a good idea.
Long winded way of saying maybe trying to cram headsets into a helmet is not a good idea. Why not put Halo style ear plugs on then slip on a full length Motorsport helmet?
Intuativly I like this idea but have no data to support the concept.
My Sirrus driving friend mentioned that he had not warn a headset in years having switched to the Halo in ear system with great results in comfort and noise attenuation. This had me thinking that the ridged ear cups of aviation headsets may cause more harm than good in a side load crash.
The military found that the rigid ear cups in helicopter helmets cause skull fractures in some types of crashes; the military changed the standard as a result of the study and now the cups inside aircrew helmets are softer to reduce the chance of skull fracture.
I also recall a study that looked at increased skull fracture on shortie style motorcycle helmets. Seems the shortie helmets shell rolls over on impact resulting in a skull fracture. Having a rigid piece of material next to the side of your skull is not a good idea.
Long winded way of saying maybe trying to cram headsets into a helmet is not a good idea. Why not put Halo style ear plugs on then slip on a full length Motorsport helmet?
Intuativly I like this idea but have no data to support the concept.
Bill.Brine
FOUNDER
Massachusetts
Without testing we cannot tell.
How much does the helmet weigh? What is the shell made of and how thick? What is the "semi rigid" material and what density?
Someone posted a picture of an enterprising designer who built a plane in a third world country; it looked a lot like a plane but did not fly.
Just because something looks like a helmet does not make it a helmet.
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Go whack your head on you plane's tubes during moderate or greater turbulence. That's a test many of us have conducted and a bump helmet beats the crap out of nothing.
The advice to wear a motorcycke helmet that's designed to absorb energy from contact with the ground isn't applicable to airplane helmet requirements but it would be better than nothing. Same same.
The advice to wear a motorcycke helmet that's designed to absorb energy from contact with the ground isn't applicable to airplane helmet requirements but it would be better than nothing. Same same.
Bill.Brine
FOUNDER
Massachusetts
agreed. A bump helmet is good at bumps.
To reduce the chance of catastrophic injury or death something more may or may not be needed.
I am no expert.
I had a nice conversation with the former owner of SportTech hemets a couple of days ago. His helmets were similar appearing to the Commtronics but the shells were specific to the headset brand to be used and the headset was retained in the helmet shell. That's what Scooter has and it's a darn nice helmet, but the gentleman never had them tested for crash compliance ($$$). Instead there was a disclaimer that stated it was not a crash helmet. That doesn't mean it isn't a good helmet for Cub type flying. The notion that a military helicopter crew helmet is required is probably overkill. Anyway, SportTech is out of business because the owner retired but he indicated he'd sell the business for an attractive price, if anyone here wants to take on a business endeavor. I'd buy one.
behindpropellers
Registered User
NE Ohio
I bought an old hockey helmet... Threw it in the CNC and cut out the earholes for my headset. A ratchet strap and the headset isn't going anywhere?
Do you think this will be ok, even though you are not an expert?
Tim
55-PA18A
SPONSOR
Dillingham, Alaska
Occasionally an ad for the Medallion Foundation (https://medallionfoundation.org/#) pops up on my screen when I'm reading the online Anchorage newspaper. This ad shows a crunched up helmet that looks a lot like one of the David Clark helmets and headsets.
The text in the ad reads: "Prepare for the worst", "Helmets save lives", "Wearing a helmet and shoulder harness is part of 'Off-airport' decision making and risk management"
Does anyone know the story about that helmet?
Jim W
The text in the ad reads: "Prepare for the worst", "Helmets save lives", "Wearing a helmet and shoulder harness is part of 'Off-airport' decision making and risk management"
Does anyone know the story about that helmet?
Jim W
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One of my oldest friends was married for many years to a very respected neurosurgeon. When her husband drove around town he wore a football helmet.
