Warbird Information Exchange

Goes back to the "just like driving in my car" philosophy.

I suspect helmets will slowly come into vogue much as headsets did. When I was getting my license, the aircraft I trained in that had radios all had the hand-held mics and crappy little speakers in the ceiling. I don't remember anyone wearing headsets. Now you're hard-pressed to find someone not wearing one.

The shell is made of Kevlar, so I don't think you're going to damage it that much, EVEN with an impact from something of more significance than the corner of a bench.

The only shell I have personally seen damaged is one that I damaged myself...I was the victim of a student who unloaded the jet too much while we were dogfighting. As a result of the negative G, my helmet smashed the canopy -- cracking the canopy AND putting an inch-long fracture in the shell.

Works fine for me.



It's a good thing that Flightsuits knows how to take care of your equipment better than you.

That's what I thought too Randy.

Too bad for them, my next helmet will not be bought there.

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Olivier Lacombe -- Harvard Mk.4 C-GBQB

Just buy a visor on ebay

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Magister Aviation
It's all in my book

No, I want a new helmet for helo flying. I'm doing fine flying the Focke-Wulf with just one visor on my helmet!



But I'll still have a look!

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Olivier Lacombe -- Harvard Mk.4 C-GBQB

A few years ago, flightsuits posted a disclaimer in their catolog that the HGU series helmets provided no crash protection. And if that was what you were looking for, they recommended one of their helo helmets. Those were designed to provide such protection. BUT, you can not go wrong with using what ever is available to you. A friend of mine once recommended to me (no and it isn't Hacker) to put up my collar and zip up my flightsuit. He saw a number of guys in Vietnam who had crashed and were severley burnt on the back of their necks and on their chests. So, roll the sleves down over the gloves, zip it up, put your collar up, visor down, chin strap on, strap on your parachute, and finally buckle up your Hooker 5 pt and have a blast!

"The HGU-55/P helmet system provides basic head protection, sound attenuation, and communication system for aircrew personnel." Basically it's a suspension assembly for the mask, comm system and NVG's. This is right out of the Tech Order for the helmet.

The HGU-55/P helmet will provide a lot of protection during the initial impact, but break after that. It's a protective helmet not a crash helmet.
You can take it and slam it against a desk corner and crack the shell. I take condemned helmet shells and demonstrate this during Life Support Equipment training. I work on MC-130's (Spec-Ops) now, and the crewdogs can get up and walk around putting them in danger of slamming the helmet and breaking it. Unlike in the fast-movers where you are in the seat for the entire ride.

Randy is right in the fact that it was designed for the fast-movers, but it made its way into the heavy world. I've been working on the HGU-55/P since I graduated from tech school in 1986. Great helmet seen it save a lot of pilots and crewdogs. The HGU-55/P was designed to replace the HGU-26/P helmet, which was causing neck strains on the pilots and was a heavy helmet. The new light weight helmet made it easier for them to look around, was cut back further to allow better peripheral vision, and put less stress on the neck.

21 years in Aircrew Life Support "Your Life is Our Business"

Mike Bernhardt

I just remembered, there's also the British Alpha helmet out there, I've seen a few and they are very good. If Transport Canada uses them, it must be good. I think...

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Olivier Lacombe -- Harvard Mk.4 C-GBQB

I agree with you Tim. I hate to see guys wearing shorts and T-shirts and a headset flying these old birds. We all have friends who wish they had hard hats and nomex after the fact. I wore one of the Campbell helmets a couple of weeks ago. Nice vintage look over a hard shell and does a good job of keeping things quiet without ANR. Of course, I still want ANR in the TBM!

Glenn

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"Remember....it's always better to overshoot and have people think you can't land than to crash and prove it!"

Probably explains how my neck size went from 14.5" before I started flying TAC and ended up at 16" when I finished

True, most of the old TAC guys when I first came in did have thick necks. Guess they got a good workout with the old 26/P.

Well, If it's helo you're gonna fly, those are about the only options. The Gentex HGU-56 helmet or an Alpha 200/900. Never fly a helo with a 55! There is also the CFG Gallet LH series of helmets, but I don't know much about them.

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Magister Aviation
It's all in my book

I know that. I was making a suggestion for those looking for a stronger crash helmet. In the same vein, I propose motorcycle helmets.

Those things are expensive, I can't buy 2 of them every year or there won't be any money left for fuel in the Fw.

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Olivier Lacombe -- Harvard Mk.4 C-GBQB

One time I gave away a bunch of my old flightsuits to someone who wanted to loan them to their PAX when they gave rides. Somewhere I’ve heard that Nomex loses its fire protection qualities after X number of washings, though.

Can anyone shed some light on this?

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