Anyone wear a helmet for GA?

F

form810

Mandate my ass! It's a movie, not a life.
In rates per 100,000, GA pilots are statistically about twice as prone to injury/fatality accidents as motorcycle riders. Motorcyclists are about 7 times as prone to injury/fatality accidents as are car drivers. If you fly GA in general, you're about 15x as likely to suffer an injury/fatality accident as compared to an average car driver. If you're flying a "working" GA aircraft (pipeline, aerial application, parachute drops, etc) your odds are even worse.

So, my question... Anyone in GA wearing a skid lid when flying?? Yeah, I'm especially talking to you back country, crop dusting, drop pilot, glider tow types. But also to just garden variety old taildragger pilots, taildragger instructors, open cockpit bros, etc.

As an aside to all you motorcycle drivers. Be careful out there. When you DO have an injury/death accident, your rate of death in that accident is pushing 80%, which is very much worse than that of GA pilots.
 
Last edited:
form810 said:
In rates per 100,000, GA pilots are statistically about twice as prone to injury/fatality accidents as motorcycle riders. Motorcyclists are about 7 times as prone to injury/fatality accidents as are car drivers. If you fly GA in general, you're about 15x as likely to suffer an injury/fatality accident as compared to an average car driver. If you're flying a "working" GA aircraft (pipeline, aerial application, parachute drops, etc) your odds are even worse.

So, my question... Anyone in GA wearing a skid lid when flying?? Yeah, I'm especially talking to you back country, crop dusting, drop pilot, glider tow types. But also to just garden variety old taildragger pilots, taildragger instructors, open cockpit bros, etc.

As an aside to all you motorcycle drivers. Be careful out there. When you DO have an injury/death accident, your rate of death in that accident is pushing 80%, which is very much worse than that of GA pilots.
Click to expand...
Some of the super cub guys do. It’s a perennial point that the NTSB pushes for backcountry dudes, along with shoulder harnesses.
 
Only wore them in tactical jets as it came to fixed wing. Wear them as standard equipment in helicopter ops. Ironically, the fixed wing helmets I had were not rated for crash protection and weren’t suitable as a helo helmet; the fixed wing ones were mainly for protection against bumping ones head against the canopy during maneuvering , for O2 mask security, and for bailout protection. As bump helmets, they were lightweight and meant to be in order to not weigh down the neck while pulling Gs. The helo helmets are for crash impact protection, are of wider stance, heavier, and with different inner webbing and lining.
 
FedEx wears bicycle helmets into Bishop California, especially in the spring when winds aloft are low and strong.
 
I can't believe I flew planes without shoulder harnesses as a younger man. Our club has a Cherokee without them and I refuse to fly it.
 
fholbert said:
FedEx wears bicycle helmets into Bishop California, especially in the spring when winds aloft are low and strong.
Click to expand...

I think you mean WestAir/CorporateAir/Empire, or whichever Feeder has the contract for that route.

Although the thought of a FedEx MD11 crew donning bicycle helmets descending through 10,000 on the arrival into LAX gave me a massive chuckle.
 
Apophis said:
I think you mean WestAir/CorporateAir/Empire, or whichever Feeder has the contract for that route.

Although the thought of a FedEx MD11 crew donning bicycle helmets descending through 10,000 on the arrival into LAX gave me a massive chuckle.
Click to expand...

That’s when you are off the PJs in the MD-11. It’s on the checklist.
 
The only GA plane I’ve ever considered one in is the PA-46. But the whole reason I have goose eggs from that plane is because my head’s already up against the ceiling. Piper’s engineers are all under 5’ tall. Prove me wrong.
 
I sat in an old v-tail Bonanza. Once. I realized there was no way I could fly it because the seat had no vertical adjustment and my head was mashed against the ceiling, without even wearing a headset.

I gave a BFR in an SR-22. Once. My neck was cocked 30 degrees to the side for 2 hours. That kinda sucked. I'm convinced, based on what you said @pwttogfk, Cirrus got their engineers from Piper.
 
guywhoflies said:
I sat in an old v-tail Bonanza. Once. I realized there was no way I could fly it because the seat had no vertical adjustment and my head was mashed against the ceiling, without even wearing a headset.

I gave a BFR in an SR-22. Once. My neck was cocked 30 degrees to the side for 2 hours. That kinda sucked. I'm convinced, based on what you said @pwttogfk, Cirrus got their engineers from Piper.
Click to expand...
Same dudes that designed the cockpit on the legacy Lears
 
guywhoflies said:
I sat in an old v-tail Bonanza. Once. I realized there was no way I could fly it because the seat had no vertical adjustment and my head was mashed against the ceiling, without even wearing a headset.

I gave a BFR in an SR-22. Once. My neck was cocked 30 degrees to the side for 2 hours. That kinda sucked. I'm convinced, based on what you said @pwttogfk, Cirrus got their engineers from Piper.
Click to expand...
I wondered why people loved Bonanzas so much because I don’t fit in the old V-tails very well. Not much head room.

And totally agree about the Piper engineers.
 
Skywest pilots wear helmets on the way to the airport

mormon.jpg
 
Helmets are very popular in the helicopter community due to the hazard of bird strikes. One friend has a nice scar on their forehead from a turkey vulture coming through uninvited.
 
Apophis said:
I think you mean WestAir/CorporateAir/Empire, or whichever Feeder has the contract for that route.

Although the thought of a FedEx MD11 crew donning bicycle helmets descending through 10,000 on the arrival into LAX gave me a massive chuckle.
Click to expand...
That goes without saying... The last time a MD11 landed at Bishop was never.
 
Yes, I do, I also work with a company that sells Helmets and other safety gear for aviation. Been wearing a helmet while flying aerobatics for years and I am a big proponent of such. I have had lots of friends have serious injuries that would have been prevented with a helmet. Lots of backcountry, skydive, AG etc. buddies use helmets
IMG_4877.jpeg
.
 
CFI A&P said:
Helmets are very popular in the helicopter community due to the hazard of bird strikes. One friend has a nice scar on their forehead from a turkey vulture coming through uninvited.
Click to expand...

That’s just one of the number of reasons with many helicopter ops that have high accident potential.
 
MikeD said:
That’s just one of the number of reasons with many helicopter ops that have high accident potential.
Click to expand...

Any bubble canopy has that potential for sure.

The aerobatic community has had some gnarly big bird strikes lately and luckily not through the canopy. But look at the damage this Turkey Vulture did to the composite tail of an Extra 330LX... Taking that through the glass would be fatal...
277803030_391359429658641_3410967148616258489_n.jpg
277766342_391359202991997_1242871560308666980_n.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top