Flight helmet recommendations

[Airzen]

Hi Folks,

I want to start flying with a helmet in my RV-8.

Biggest concern is a bird strike leading to a shattered canopy, so eye protection is needed as well.

In terms of requirements, comfort and low weight is desirable as I tend to fly long cross country. Also I need the ability to use ANR headphones (Bose or Lightspeed).


Any recommendations/suggestions?

Ashish

[Ironflight]

I just had a brand new HGU-55 built up by Flighthelmet.com, and it turned out great! I wanted a custom-painted helmet to go with my new custom-painted plane (done by John Stahr), and decided to let John go wild on the helmet. I didn’t want to repaint my old HGU (too many memories), so went to Gentex and priced a helmet, then went to Flighthelmets and priced the identical helmet from them. Flighthelmet beat the direct Gentex price by a couple hundred bucks - plus they were able to work with me to ship just the shell to Stahr so he could paint it and ship it back to be built up - great to work with.

I like the new Kevlar shell - very light compared to my old one - and set it up with Oregon Aero liners, standard visor, and GA comm, set up to use either a boom mic or O2 mask. ANR of your choice is, I believe an option.

That’s just some feedback for you on one source....

Paul

[Mark33]

I saw these the other day. I don?t know anything about them but they may be worth a look. https://www.skycowboysupplyco.com/

[larosta]

I have heard good things about Bonehead Composites. I would suspect that they are much lighter than a Mil Helmet. I have been a customer of Flighthelmets.com in the past and always have had good experiences with them.

-larosta

[Gash]

I fly with a Bonehead Composites helmet in my Extra. I spent a military career with an HGU brain bucket?loved it?but have discovered that the Bonehead is lighter and lower profile, so I don?t hit it as much on the canopy. If you get a Bonehead, be sure to get the Oregon Aero triangular leather ear cups and cloth ear cup covers. This setup is far superior in comfort and noise attenuation. Bonehead knows all the part numbers now since I prototyped the ear cups for them. It?s not on their website so you?ll need to call and ask for the Oregon Aero upgrade. Good luck!

[gmcjetpilot]

The prices are eye widening. I'll go down to the local Cycle Gear store and buy helmets, modify them,call them Flight helmets and sell them for a fraction of the price. This is not to say these custom airplane products are not good, but $2,500 good or $1000 good? Some look like motorcycle helmets.

[Pilot135pd]

I had my old Air Force Gentex helmet airbrushed about 9 years ago and added the noise cancelling system to use in my RV-8. I have a newer modern Gentex but still also use a Telex noise cancelling headset and a normal DC headset depending on the mood.

I had it painted after an EMS nurse narc?d on me one night when I forgot my helmet at home and used a headset. About a month later I knew she was working that night in the ER so I used this helmet and she saw me out in my helo on the helipad. She narc?d again but this time when my boss called us in I was able to show that the nurse was just an idiot looking to cause problems and I had a helmet on that night !

You can see a video of it here https://youtu.be/i2gxsZYPnUo

[seward747]

Pilot135: clever!
That helmet has all the bases covered.


Doug
Seattle area

[xblueh2o]

I have two helmets. One with ANR and the other with CEP.
I am finding as time goes on I like the one with CEP better. The T-28 would overpower the ANR until I had the prop back at cruise. I seriously doubt an RV is loud enough to do that but it is an issue in some of the louder aircraft. Another advantage of the CEP system is there are no ANR batteries to go dead the instant the gear hit the uplocks on a 2 hour flight which is universally when it happened.
For my CEP helmet I opted for the custom molded inserts to replace the foam plugs. Very comfortable for long duration flights.

For the helmet itself I would go with the custom molded liner. Again, makes the helmet comfortable to wear on long duration flights without localized pain (hot spots).

[PhatRV]

Originally Posted by RV8JD

Check out the thread below on the Icaro 2000 Nerv. A friend uses one in his RV-8 and likes it, although he would opt for a lighter color for Summer flying due to the heat buildup.

http://www.vansairforce.com/communit...d.php?t=160934

Thanks for the link. I often wonder why civilian flight helmet cost so much.