Bagarre wrote:I wish my flying was cool enough to justify wear a helmet.
The closest I get to sand bar is 100' over the beach

I know a guy who suffered a brain injury in a violent ground loop on a huge paved runway. I don't think your flying has to be "extreme" off airport flying to justify head protection.

Many will try to talk you out of it or poke fun to affirm their own decision to forego a helmet, but it's ultimately up to you and your tolerance for extra gear and having a sweaty head.

I didn't have the chance to review this entire thread (time constraints). But, if it hasn't already been mentioned, the threat of bird strikes are also a good reason to wear a helmet for the kind of low-level operations that are often conducted by folks on this forum.

I never really considered helmets until I started crewing as a TFO on my department's helicopter. In that bird helmets are are used primarily due to the threat of bird strikes. After all, that mission dictates lots of low level flying in the "bird zone", and we've had a couple of bird strikes in the past. One of the guys I flew with had a bad bird strike last summer, and had to make an emergency landing in Denver's Washington Park as a result of the incident. Helmets help if your head happens to be the place where a bird decides to land inside of your aircraft!

Bird strikes are common in NOE, pipeline and powerline patrol, and crop dusting. The bird will try to tuck a wing and dive. A smart move on his part, but when low we give him little room.

Pilots, including students, get used to the helmet. We promote it by wearing it. Get an old SPH-4 or a David Clark shell. Both have webbing that breath. Both are cheap. Both work in a crash. I know.

bigrenna wrote:Time for a bump in this thread...

Today is year end which means it's as good of an excuse to spend money as any. Bit the bullet and ordered a better helmet from Bobby at Tigerdirect. (even matches my Wagon!)

BTW... that's not me in the photo.

BigR,

How is the new helmet working out for you? Do you wear it on a regular basis?

blackrock wrote:

bigrenna wrote:How is the new helmet working out for you? Do you wear it on a regular basis?

I purchased (or tried to purchase) that helmet from Tiger Direct back in Dec wanting it for my trip to AK in May... Three months went by with a BS story about France and back orders and some such nonsense. Long story short they finally said they were going to paint the color I wanted internally rather than having it shipped from the factory... Then I noticed a new charge on the AmEx over 4 months after I had purchased it. Turns out that after I had explicitly noted that it needed to be billed in FY2014, they dropped the ball and didnt bill me till May. At that point, I was pretty aggravated and told them to forget about it.

I'm going to prop order one from a different vender at OSH.

That said, I have been religiously wearing the A-Alpha.

From the other day...

BR,

Thanks for the update. Yes, I wondered if there was a reason you were still flying with the Protec. You're setting a good example for the rest of us. Too bad Tiger hasn't taken care of that for you; good for the rest of us to know that so we can be aware if dealing with them.

Certainly anything is better than a bare noggin so just trying to make sense out of the options of which there appear to be few. I have Lightspeed's so short of a high-end aviation helmet, Z's Sport Link solution appears the best low cost option for those of us with Zulu's right now.

The Evo looks like it might be a good alternative to the Gallet. Be great to hear what you find at OSH.

Thanks,
Blackrock

I dont think I would be too harsh on Tiger Direct. The experience was a big pain and for sure I was pretty disappointed, but that said, they were super nice to deal with and had good customer service. It did take a long time to get my $$ refunded though.

As far as wearing a helmet goes... Its a hard sell to most folks to wear em, but I've been getting some open positive feedback at the airfield. Those that think Im a wanker are generally polite and talk amongst themselves.

bigrenna wrote:I dont think I would be too harsh on Tiger Direct. The experience was a big pain and for sure I was pretty disappointed, but that said, they were super nice to deal with and had good customer service. It did take a long time to get my $$ refunded though.

As far as wearing a helmet goes... Its a hard sell to most folks to wear em, but I've been getting some open positive feedback at the airfield. Those that think Im a wanker are generally polite and talk amongst themselves.

I live in a state that doesn't require a helmet for motorcycles. I'm probably 1 in 1000 when I go riding. Helmets have saved my life a few times on motorcycles and bicycles.
A good shoulder belt restraint is on my shopping list, and I may consider helmets in the future.
Thanks.

I bought my gallet from Merret Apperral. Their service has been really good. But they have the same problem as tiger performance. The helmet is made in France where they only work when they feel like it, and they don't very often. I have been spraying with my gallet for 6 years now with an average of 350 hrs a year, and it has held up great. the gallet has been extensively tested and documented as a very crashworthy lid. The evo is a copy of the gallet, and has no avialable testing data yet..

I fly in a helmet for work, and bought a protech for civilian flying that I haven't set up for use yet.

Once I get it set up I'll likely use it 80% of the time, with "high" altitude CC being the exception.