Helmets...... and life in general....
What are the thoughts about helmets today?
I have worn a helmet since Day One of my flying SuzieQ. There were multiple reasons I chose to have my head and face protected. I was test-flying a newly manufactured aircraft and it just made sense to have one on. I have worn it since because it just makes sense to have one on! There is a bare 1/4 inch of polycarbonate between me and whatever the airplane is scraping along upside down. Or whatever has decided to bash its way through the canopy. I wear helmets when I ski, bike, climb, and other activities where my head might be the first thing to be hit or hit the ground. Why should flying be any different? I have also worked ERs.....
I’m in phase 1 testing for my RV-10 and I’ve been wearing a Bonehead Composites helmet with ANR since the first flight. My EAA TC (he has built 6 planes and has maybe 5000 hours) has been giving me a lot of $&#@ about it. It was fun at first, but now it is getting pretty insulting.
My life improved substantially when, about age 9 or 10, gave up caring about
what everyone thought. I would NOT have gotten where I am in life if I had listened to all those naysayers around me. I bought the Cub when I was 21 years old working as a carpenter saving up money for college. My family did not know for 2 years. I eventually did finish college and professional school (Mom: well, you can't do
THAT!). Wait: you think you can
BUILD your own
airplane??
And on and on......
I like the helmet. The ANR is very good. Flying with a visor is great. I’ve been flying for the last several years in Randolph aviators, which are awesome, but i have come to love the visor. No frame edges. No pressure on the nose. At about hour 8, I tested the autopilot for the first time and I had a small issue, which involved hitting the ceiling. The helmet took all the impact.
That should have convinced you your helmet was a great idea! I really like my helmet as well. Mine was "custom molded" decades ago when that was available and fits like a glove on my oddly-shaped head. Mine has an ANR as well and the noise abatement is second to none. The visibility through the visor is a compliment to the visibility out of the canopy! There is plenty of room between the helmet and the canopy. I have a piece of Velcro (the soft side) on top of the helmet to prevent scratching the canopy. I have hit the canopy more than once in turbulence (Wyoming...!
) Mine is an HGU-55 without the visor protective slider (like the old HGU-2A). That knob would probably be too tall. If you saw Aimee "Rebel" Fiedler's F-16 demo at OSH, she was wearing the HGU-55. Good company!
I read through the posts dating back to the original post and have to disagree with a lot of the comments. I do not have a canopy shade on SuzieQ. Never considered it. Why mess with THAT visibility?? I have been in the hot weather on long trips (to OSH, for example) and did not find it uncomfortable. Multiple trips into Arizona and Texas: not an issue.
I am not trying to appear "cool"
and wouldn't care if someone thought that anyway. I wear a Nomex flight suit having talked to a pilot (in the doughnut line at OSH years ago!) who was sporting some gnarly-looking skin grafts on his arms from an RV-4 fire. He wished he had a Nomex suit on. I wear Nomex gloves (I have always worn gloves when flying) as things can get HOT that you need to grab on to in an emergency. Do people think I'm trying to look like a fighter pilot? Don't care.
See above.
I wear helmets skiing, biking, and mountaineering. I wear an old bike helmet when roller skiing to train for cross country skiing and biathlon. What’s wrong with a helmet for flying?
Exactly!
I will be flying Young Eagles in a few weeks. And I am starting to fly with experienced pilots during the test phase. Soon, I will be flying with family. Should I ditch the helmet as my TC keeps telling me? Or tell him to bug off?
BUG OFF! Gently, of course...!
I have flown with first-time adults; I have flown multiple Young Eagles; I have flown with (chosen) family. No one has
EVER said anything about my helmet and flight suit. (I did have a know-it-all at a local fly-in accuse me of "impersonating an officer...."
Made my day!!) It might even be reassuring to your passengers that you take this flying thing
seriously! Do what you feel comfortable doing.
"Few and mean as my gifts may be, I actually am, and do not need for my own assurance or the assurance of my fellows any secondary testimony. What I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think." Ralph Waldo Emerson
Self-Reliance
Photo: first
seconds of flight of a brand-new airplane!!