There was a recent Plane + Pilot podcast with an Idaho ER doc and backcountry CFI named Dr. Jon Miller. He cited an Alaska FSDO study that looked at what could have realistically saved lives across five years of backcountry accidents. Helmets topped the list—above four-point harnesses, survival training, and 406 ELT upgrades.

His case isn’t about impact protection in the general sense, it’s specifically about the pilot staying conscious long enough to run the checklist, shut off fuel, and get passengers out. Which raises another question: if you’re the one wearing the helmet and your spouse, kids or friends aren’t, should they be wearing one? That’s a hard thing to live with if it makes a difference in an accident.

Are you flying with one, and why? What about passengers wearing them?

Podcast: https://planeandpilotmag.com/plane-pilo ... on-miller/

I don't and probably won't. I'd say it's just a matter of where a person draws the line regarding safety and risk. Helmets would probably be helpful in many car crashes too, but I'm not going to wear one there either.

It's a divisive topic.

https://backcountrypilot.org/forum/helm ... ours-19726

https://backcountrypilot.org/forum/helm ... live-21102

Zzz wrote:It's a divisive topic.

https://backcountrypilot.org/forum/helm ... ours-19726

https://backcountrypilot.org/forum/helm ... live-21102

I can't give any real good reason why I won't. Probably just being a kid of the 80's and 90's and having somewhere adopted a rebellious attitude about helmets. My resolve on this issue gets hardened every time some knob chirps me at the ski hill about, "where's your helmet". The only float pilot I know locally who wears one is a guy I would least like to emulate.

I grew up not wearing helmets for anything. Then I got into road biking and saw that I really needed to wear one. I got so used to it that I won't think of getting on a bike now without a helmet. I resisted wearing one for skiing for decades. Finally, a couple of years ago, I relented and got a helmet. It's very comfortable, even in Spring conditions, and I actually like wearing it.

Most of my flying isn't over hostile terrain, but I wear Nomex shirt and pants (not a flight suit) when flying in rugged areas, and I bought Nomex pants and shirt for our son, too. Getting a helmet is the natural next step, I guess. I might as well just go ahead and get one now, because, based on my history, it's gonna happen eventually anyway. And I'll get one that my wife and son can share, since they're seldom in the plane together when we're flying over hostile terrain. It's just the way it has worked out.

I'm intrigued by the over-headset helmets. I have a lot invested in Lightspeed Zulus, and I'd rather have a solution that doesn't require me to buy new headsets along with the helmets. I'll have to go back and re-read those old threads.

Thanks.

Terry

I mean, if looks are a concern...

Only if it comes with a mullet!

I have one for myself and my wife. I have bounced off the X brace in the cub and a helmet helps a lot. The passenger gets choice of helmet or headset depending on how tall they are. Big guys head won't fit under headliner with helmet so I leave it up to them.
DENNY

Zzz wrote:I mean, if looks are a concern...

Had a double molar extraction Monday and laughing hurts like hell…

Rocket

I wore one when I was flying jumpers in the 207 because I couldn’t reach back and shut the door after jumpers exited and after 8-9 hrs a day of that all week long it was nice to have helmet on to kill the noise of descending with the door open. Never bother in the 206 since I could reach the door and shut it . .

I have to wear a helmet in my summer job airplane. I've really grown to enjoy wearing it, its quieter, and has my tinted visor built in. After flying my new Citabria home across Canada, and putting up with the extra noise of having my sunglasses under my headset, I'll be installed a LEMO plug in the plane so I can wear my helmet in it as well. I wear it in my 210 as well, again, I just find it comfortable. My passengers don't wear them, but at $6k USD for a helmet, I can't afford to supply them for everyone.

The biggest issue with lhelmets for passengers is proper fit for a variety of head shapes. As A-1 noted, a properly fitted helmet (and it takes a little effort and time to get there) can be very comfortable, especially on long flights. Doing low level surveys and telemetry flights of 5 to 7 or so hours in the plane, the properly fitted helmet was far more comfortable than any headset, just because of the need for clamping pressure on headsets.

That said, a helmet that's NOT properly fitted is a true torture device, which I wouldn't wish on anyone. Even the process of getting a helmet fitted can involve torture as you find hot spots due to pressure points that aren't obvious in the first hour or so.

I don't fly with a helmet these days, and I didn't in my working days, unless I was doing work that suggested a helmet. These days, I'm just not doing a lot of that kind of flying. Then again, stuff happens.......

But, seat belts and shoulder harnesses? I will NOT fly in a plane that doesn't have good harnesses. First mod I've done to the last couple of airplanes I've owned is add very high quality harness/belt systems.

I'm still amazed here in Montana to hear about the many automobile accidents that result in fatalities, where the last line of the report was "occupants were not wearing restraint systems". And, there are a lot of them, unfortunately.

Helmets are getting much more common up here in AK. There's a strong case to be made that if you can stay conscious upon impact, chance of survival increases substantially.
I made the switch to a helmet this winter and went with a Team Wendy helmet (same as the ones sold by Skycowboy). My kid designed and 3D printed up some adapters so I could use my Lightspeed Zulu headset. I've logged about 15-20 hours with it, and so far have found it extremely comfortable. I just bought a second helmet for my passengers. One of the really nice features of the Team Wendy helmet is the adjustability to fit a variety of different users.

Hi folks. I'm glad you enjoyed the discussion on the podcast.

I suspect that, slowly but surely, helmets will become more commonplace in fixed wing operations in the mountain west. Much like our rotor wing friends have been doing for years. Some touted that these helmets costs $6K. That's simply untrue. I have outfitted an old military gentex with GA plugs and still retain the capability to run an O2 Mask for the day that invite comes to fly a warbird (crickets.....). Some brands offer some helmets for $500 bucks (Sky Cowboy) and Lyft and Boneheads makes some for a couple thousand. Do realize that the passive option does allow you to save costs and (as people have mentioned here) the helmet itself seems to make things quieter without the additional costs of an ANR.

I don't wear mine on long cross country flights at 12500ft, but when I'm flying in the backcountry I wear mine. It's very comfortable.

I was a skier back when Sonny Bono skied into a tree and it made the news.....that high profile fatality, followed by Kennedy a month later, started to bring helmets into the forefront. What was once rather fringe and uncommon to see became commonplace over the next 20 years. Now 90+ percent of skiers and riders wear them. Over that time they have become lighter, warmer, better looking, and more affordable. I'm hopeful the same thing will happen with the activity that we all love.

Reach out to me if you have any specific questions. Come take a class sometime too or get me to come speak at your aviation safety event. If you see me at the airport - come try on a helmet!

http://www.adventuremedicineexperts.com

- Jon Miller

I'm the one that said 6k. I have to fly with a DOT approved helmet for work. And when you wear said helmet 14 hrs a day, you want something comfortable. Yes, those are 6k minimum, especially in Canadian dollars. Keep in mind that helmets do have an expiry date. Every helmet I've ever used does, weather it be my hockey helmet, snowmobile helmet, and flight helmet. So be aware of that when purchasing old surplus. Yes, and expired helmet is better then nothing, and you could probably wear your ski helmet in the plane just as well. In my work, the helmet is used more in flight then in a crash, if you don't walk away from an ag plane crash, the helmet probably isn't going to keep you alive.
All that said, I still like wearing my helmet in my other planes as well, but i simply can't keep one for every passenger that may or not be with me, given my growing kids, different head sizes on most people etc.

Grey marks are smacks from various parts of roll cages on different ag aircraft, red marks are smacks from the door handles on airtractors.
Probably won’t save you in a full on crash but might help keep ya conscious while working.
I vote for helmets in these tough working conditions.


Bkn

Bkn4thr wrote:

03B59D8B-036D-470D-8F96-C03FAF147BCD.jpeg

Grey marks are smacks from various parts of roll cages on different ag aircraft, red marks are smacks from the door handles on airtractors.
Probably won’t save you in a full on crash but might help keep ya conscious while working.
I vote for helmets in these tough working conditions.


Bkn

Exactly. Keeps me conscious when beating my head against the bars in the field. The larger AG planes are actually placarded requiring DOT approved helmets. Mine isnt as beat up as yours yet, but your gotten a bit more experience under your belt then I do. I'll catch up slowly. Still need to meet you some day...

My real job is flying helicopters and we have several customers that require helmets be worn by all pilots while working on their behalf. Wildfire agencies, hydro utility and pipeline companies almost always have a helmet policy. It's very rare to see a commercial helicopter pilot not wearing a helmet when their work involves unprepared landing sites. When I started flying headsets were the norm and helmets were the exception so I only ever wore a headset for many years. Much like skiing, it's all different now. It seems odd for me to fly a helicopter without a helmet now.
That being said, when I fly our 185, I still use a really-comfortable-super lightweight-noise-cancelling headset and occasionally question my decision making...