Helmets.....to be or not to be.......
I've been wearing helmets doing other activities for coming up on 50 years and feel very comfortable with them. All the arguments against helmets we hear in this thread were common across other activities before their use became completely normalized - motorcycling, bicycling, rock climbing, snow skiing, skating, ...
OK: since I kind of opened this thread up initially, allow me to pontificate a little. I wear a helmet cycling (that's bicycling). In the however many decades I have been cycling, I have had to replace my helmet twice from a fall: once hitting some sand and going down; once during a criterium race when the cyclist in front of me went down. He went to the ER with a cracked skull. Yes, he had a helmet on. I wear one skiing. In the times I have fallen, my head usually contacts the (not so soft) Snow at some point during the fall. The one fall I had to replace the helmet: run into by a snowboarder. (How a snowboarder introduces themselves to you: "Uh, sorry, dude"). Technical rock climbing: wear one. Motorcycling (don't do that much anymore; see below): helmet. I see people, fewer all the time, who don't wear helmets. My favorite are the parents cycling with their kids, all of whom have helmets, except the adults!?!
Flying: no one expects to need a helmet when flying. One argument is that they would wear one if back country flying. When the fan stops on your cross-country, you will suddenly be back country landing. You won't need it during your usual flying activities; you might if those usual activities become more exciting! I'm in the front seat of SuzieQ. I'm going to get to the wreck first. And be the recipient of whatever decides to work it's way through the canopy. I like having that extra layer of protection.
From where do I speak? In my previous life, I was a physician working Urgent Care/Trauma/ER for nearly 35 years. I saw the results of people wearing helmets
and the results of those who chose not to.
Why I don't ride motorcycles much anymore. Will they protect you against everything? Of course not. They just increase your chances of making it through and untoward situation significantly.
I'm happy this kind of thread keeps coming up, as it reminds me I need to get off my a++ and get myself a helmet. Or two, one for my GIB as well.
Good plan! We will be getting my regular PIB a helmet soon.
BTW - I wear a flight suit - perhaps we need a thread on that topic!
Oh, Mickey! We've open up a big enough can of worms here!
Yes, I wear one. Is it to look cool? I take it off as soon as I am out of the airplane. Except maybe at a fly-in: then it might be to look cool!
I wear a speed suit when I am time trial racing (cycling). To look cool? No: to go faster. I wear a "kit" when I'm road riding/racing. I wear a ski suit when I'm skiing. To look cool? No: to stay warm. I wear a pair of coveralls when I am working on dirty stuff (cars, airplanes). To look cool? Definitely not!
No: to stay clean. I wear all those for a specific purpose. My flight suit has a specific purpose: to maybe give me a few more
seconds to get out of a bad situation.....
I also have a 5 point harness....doesn't do much with "normal" cross country....except in Wyoming.....
IMHO; YMMV
That's the cool thing about doing what we do: we build our airplanes they way we want them; we can dress however we want as well.....