Hardhead
Helmets belong in the backcountry
By Dave Hirschman
Helmets make pilots look dorky. They send the wrong message to passengers. They’re uncomfortably hot and heavy. They’re too expensive. They won’t save you in an accident, anyway.
These are the most common arguments against wearing helmets in backcountry airplanes, and none of them are original.
They mirror the initial resistance that aerobatic, agricultural, and even military pilots put up before flight helmet use became standard in those pursuits. They also fall predictably in line with complaints from motorcyclists, hockey players, football players, mountain bikers, parachute jumpers, street cyclists, skiers, roller-bladers, kayakers, and white-water rafters, the vast majority of whom ultimately came to accept the wisdom of better protecting their noggins.
The Piper Super Cub has done more to popularize backcountry flying than any other airplane, and it’s a delight. The originals came with just a lap belt, although most owners have long ago added four-point harnesses. Yet even with improved seatbelt restraints, a Super Cub pilot’s head is only 18 inches or so away from a pair of steel braces that can cause severe injuries in sudden-stop or rollover accident. I don’t mean to pick on Super Cubs. Just about any tube-and-fabric airplane is likely to have similar characteristics. And early Cessna Skywagons had steel cross-braces, too. They’re terrific for helping slide the seat forward in its tracks, and potentially not so great in a crash.
In agricultural flying, helmets have become universal because they work. Ag pilots regularly walk away from crashes that, at first glance, would appear fatal. (Reinforced cockpits, padded instrument panels, and crashworthy seats share the credit.)
Obviously some helmets are better than others. But some protection is better than none, and the perfect shouldn’t be the enemy of the good here. Helmets also can be useful in situations that don’t involve bent metal. Backcountry and mountain pilots are often subject to jolting turbulence, and any helmet at all can soften the blows from striking headliners, windows, or sun visors. Helmets with integrated headsets provide excellent hearing protection and audio clarity, and attached visors are better than sunglasses because the wraparound view prevents blind spots. Comfort matters—helmets that hurt don’t get worn.
The variety of flight helmets made for backcountry flying has been growing rapidly in recent years and quality is excellent. Finding one that suits your head, airplane, and climate has never been easier.
Cost runs the gamut. It’s possible to spend several thousand dollars on a custom fit, fully tricked out, carbon-fiber helmet with active noise reduction and all the accessories. But good options are available at far less cost.
One of my favorites is a U.S. Navy “cranial,” a cloth helmet with Kevlar shields in the front and back, made for deck crews. A friend bought one at a military surplus store for $45 and wears it religiously in the backcountry. It’s light, comfortable, fits his David Clark headset, and takes up little space in a flight bag.
Finally, dorkiness is in the eye of the beholder. The first pilot I ever saw wearing a helmet in a Super Cub was an Alaska game warden on an island near Juneau. When I asked him about the helmet, he said he started wearing it after one of his colleagues suffered grievous head injuries in a flying accident at work. The injuries were life altering, and the game warden said they probably wouldn’t have happened if the pilot had been wearing a helmet. All the things we’ve learned, all our precious memories, all that makes us unique resides in our heads. Suddenly, the Alaska pilot’s helmet didn’t seem dweebish at all.
Headache
Aviation helmets are untested, unproven
By Ian J. Twombly
As backcountry flying has gained more popularity and, let’s face it, we get farther from our Neanderthal roots, aviation helmets have become more commonplace in cockpits. Many cheer this development. They shouldn’t—we’re being swindled.
Ticking off the list of sports where helmets have become more widespread in recent years, it’s hard to imagine one that has the demands of aviation. A few may incorporate communication, or a need to keep the wearer cool or warm, but that’s nothing compared to an aviation helmet. Ours must be comfortable for hours at a time, light, strong, provide excellent communication, incorporate sun protection in the visor, and be low profile. Oh, and some cranial protection would be nice as well.
A few manufacturers hit nearly all these criteria. They incorporate high-end active noise reduction headsets, sit low on the head, look great, have flip-down visors like Maverick, and weigh around two pounds. So why shouldn’t we all go out and buy one?
Because a helmet’s only job, its raison d’être, is to protect. And aviation helmets may or may not be good at this. We have no idea. And the reason we have no idea is because the vast majority aren’t tested. Motorcycle helmet standards such as Economic Commission for Europe (ECE), Department of Transportation (DOT), and Snell give consumers some amount of comfort that a helmet has been independently tested against known risk points, and passed. The FAA doesn’t have such a standard, so we have no idea if a particular helmet does its job or not.
Thankfully, the military likes to investigate such things, and the U.S. Army has studied its helicopter helmet numerous times. The verdict? It ain’t great for helmets. In the 1980s, they found a SPH-4 helmet saved helicopter occupants from survivable crashes only about half the time. And that’s a helmet that meets a MIL spec, and has been rigorously tested and upgraded over the years. It turns out all those things we need, like visors, earcups, and a low profile are what make the helmet only partially effective.
You could make the argument that spending $2,000 or $3,000 on a helmet to increase your odds of a survivable accident by 50 percent is money well spent. I would argue that seatbelt airbags, and especially better training, are better investments.
A helmet is probably a decent investment for hardcore backcountry pilots, as it is for ag pilots and even some aerobatic pilots. But for the rest of us, spend the money learning to not go off the end or side of the runway, put some airbags up front, and you’ll likely increase your safety more than you will by sending a few thousand bucks to a company that spends more on its helmet’s graphics than it does on testing.
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