to keep it simple I use a Bell motorcycle trials helmet and a clarity aloft ear plug head set

While I like the full protection of the Gentex, I for one am really looking for something that I'd want to wear when it's hot in the cockpit. I have seen plenty of folks take huge hits with Pro-tec helmets in skate parks as well as on the snow in eastern condition (read, wicked firm/icy) terrain parks. So, my feeling is that it will disperse the energy sufficiently in a pretty significant crash. I will not fly a plane without shoulder harnesses so I'm not significantly concerned about having my face bounce off the panel.

Like moto gear/mt bike gear/ski gear/chain saw chaps/etc, it will only protect you if it's something that you'll wear. So, while it seems obvious to me that the Gentex will likely withstand more of an impact, I'm still searching for something with better ventilation.

Comfort is relative. NO helmet that provides decent head protection is also going to provide good ventilation.

That said, I have worn a headset for a nine hour flight, and I've worn helmets on many seven to eight hour flights, and the helmets are 100 % more comfortable than any headset.

Wear your bike helmet if you like, but frankly it's probably going to do more for your image than for your safety.

MTV

Mike, if you think that a "bike helmet" won't protect you, then with all due respect I have to disagree. I know you have many more hours and experience in the air than I may ever, but I do know about helmets used in sports and can tell you that having both experienced, and been witness to, huge impacts where lightweight/ventilated helmets were in use, I can attest to their efficacy. If youre looking to keep yourself conscious in a crash, it's all about dispersal of force and many ventilated helmets will do that extremely well.

Just picked up a new Halo headset which I will try out this weekend...if I like it and I think I will...my next step is to see how it feels with one of these...based on other reports I've heard I think it will work:
http://www.revzilla.com/motorcycle/agv- ... ack-helmet

Or one of these: http://www.revzilla.com/product/nexx-x60-vintage-helmet

I'm kinda partial to these.



Just have to be careful not to poke holes in the headliner.

Gump

Despite lack of fitment for other than DC headsets...followed bigrennas lead on the a-bravo. They're very reasonably priced and come with a tac rail, hook n loop for morale patches and a tac flashlight attachment! HELL YEAH! If you want tier 1 gear scope cryeprecision headgear. $$$$$

I've often thought that since I wear a helmet on the bike, quad & snowmachine that it's more important in the airplane. Thing is, when I do a sudden stop with the shoulder harness on, that helmet is gonna add to the inertia of my noggin & do a number on my skinny neck.

I'm wondering if the statitistics on helmets saving lives include how many were wearing shoulder harnesses??
This ain't stinky bait, I really wonder...

Your head weighs twenty or thirty lbs a good helmet weighs less then a pound the difference on your neck is nothing compared to the protective value. Super cubs in particular almost all fatalities are head injuries so its simple math.

GumpAir wrote:I'm kinda partial to these.



Just have to be careful not to poke holes in the headliner.

Gump

And you have a place to hang your headset when you're not flying........

^^^^^ That must be the 'open cockpit' model......

lc

Got a rude call one time from the FAA after I wrote a safety article about turning back to the runway in the event of engine failure. They reminded me of their policy to fly straight ahead. I disagreed and I climb at Vx to put myself in a position to use the airport rather than the trees. What is the point?
A lot of us try to mitigate the energy that will need to be dissipated in a hard landing. We pick our routes, we do good runups, we wear shoulder harnesses. Some days, you just won't have any warning.
That can be bad no matter what. The other days, you might get to use the survival gear you so carefully gathered. After a few flights with the bike in the back of the plane and the helmet sitting on top... I began to think how handy that might be in an engine failure over hostile terrain. Now, it resides on the seat next to me. (Left, since I always fly from the right)
If there is time, I can don it quickly during the emergency checklist. If no time, well.... I am going to fly it all the way to impact. Under control and hoping for the best.
It certainly won't be the same protection level as a Gentex.... but I just can't see keeping the big guy on during all my GA flights. I know many of you are struggling with the same reality. Temperature, appearance, weight, etc. So, while we all argue... I suggest you might look at one of the modern bike helmets to carry along. If you never use it... not much invested. If it saves even a bit of injury then it will have been worth the time and trouble. A second medium size one for passengers adds hardly any weight... and you won't have to explain why you are the only one protected ! Merry Xmas.

Hi em,

It is after 7:am and I just climbed out of the plane I started the day in, back at 5 pm, so I'll do my best for now... pics will come when the mildew stops and I can get to building...

When I said built up, it sounded like a rocket science assembly deal... which is what Merritt and Tiger would have you believe too But actually I just buy the bare helmet without comms. An LH 050 from Tiger Performance, one of the two soul importers of Gallet helmets will set you back under $1100.

The Gallet has two different 'stock' liner systems. The basic system is a boat load of various thickness pads that you use to 'custom' fit it. The 'comfort liner' is similar, but the top pad is shaped like a 'W' and ventilates better than any of the other options. It is also IMHO as good or better than the OA zeta liner. And yes I have all three. The 'OA Zeta liner' (read; Big buck skull cap) is cool... but foolishly expensive for a foam skull cap...

For sound you can go with the stock earcups (or any helmet ear cups for that matter...) and OA ear seals, OA hush cups, or Boxell hush cups. The stock cups with gel earseals is the cheapest way to go, and coincidentally works best for ANR Hush cups (any kind) are the most comfy if you fly all day.

ANR... there was a guy on the cub site that raved about his Gallett's ANR 'modules' and swore a headsets inc kit would never compare .... You know what they say... ignorance is bliss...
Neither of the Gallet importers are manufacturers... they simply buy the helmet, buy the comm parts and put it together... you can also buy every comm component either of these guys is using. You may also choose to pay them a few extra dollars to take the assembly out of the equation for you... I don't mind installing a set of speakers and mic myself.. Headsetsinc ANR is under $200, and a shade more if you get one of their cool wired up cables. Highly recommend the all in one cable and an auto shut off battery box (even if you are hardwiring your airplane). The receptacle for the headsetsinc battery box is the same as the receptacle that you wire into your plane, so you will always have a 'plan b' if the fuse fails, or you choose to flt someone else's rig... how groovy is that?

BTW, for those that are not sold on ANR (and I'll never understand why...) you can pull the old comms out of a good old DC headset and fill the helmet for dirt cheap...

Pundy
First let me say, point well taken, but...the LH050 weighs no more than a skate helmet and headset. It is the lightest 'real deal' helmet you are going to find, and properly set up is far more comfortable...
and second... while I have hung from my inertia reel shoulder harness upside down (unscathed)..., I know a couple folks who didn't fair so well.... even with excellent shoulder harnesses... it goes like this; if the crash sequence starts benigin, like a snowy nose over, or short field contest with a tad to aggresive braking...the shoulder harness still pays out... but if it subsequently turns violent, (like you just hit the snow bank)... faceplant... My work / flying partner has a rebuilt upper jaw and fake teeth from just such a wreck...

anyways, nothing new here... I still don't wear a helmet in anything GA...
Take care, Rob

Here's what Gentex says about their own helmets. This warning label came with my HGU-55.

"CAUTION
HGU-33, HGU-55, HGU-55/E and HGU-68 helmets have been designed for use in fixed-wing aircraft.They offer limited impact protection. Users with other applications should consider helmets with greater impact protection designed specifically for their application."

While I believe my helmet would provide limited protection against head injury in the event of forced landing, I wear it primarily in my aerobatic aircraft to prevent head injury if I jettison my canopy and utilize my parachute. There are no certification (Snell) standards for commercial aviation helmets, and I'm not sure they provide much more protection than other light weight non aviation helmets.

The Gentex admonition is directed toward helicopter pilots. There is a huge difference in the potential threats in fixed wing vs helicopter accidents, particularly when you're considering military applications.

Helicopters tend to sling a LOT of parts around and from all different directions, when they dissassemble. Fixed wing airplanes, on the other hand, present an entirely different set of impact possibilities.

So, a helmet manufacturer is telling you that this helmet is specifically designed for fixed wing aviation and if you choose to use it for something it's not designed for, like flying helicopters, your results may vary.

That should be a pretty clear warning about the use of bike helmets or climbing helmets in an aircraft.
Consider the potential impact directions and forces. In an airplane, they are grossly different than on a bicycle on in rock climbing.

Is any helmet better than no helmet? Maybe, but my point was simply that before you spend a lot of money, time and energy trying to cobble together something that may or may not actually meet your design goal, you MAY be better off purchasing a tool that was actually designed AND TESTED for the specific task.

MTV

Question for you helmet wearers. How is it to wear glasses with the helmet? I imagine not very comfortable... all my other helmets, hockey, snowmibile, dirtbike, are not good at all with glasses on. Anybody here wear glasses with the helmet?

David

Weather glasses are comfortable with your helmet really depends on what kind of helmet you wear. Some are just protective shells over standard headphones. So it is roughly the same as your headset. If you have a more integrated helmet, then it depends on the behind the ear portion. You want a more paddle straight back style bow. It is what the military settled upon decades ago. If it needs to curve down around your ear, it may still be comfortable, but nearly impossible to get on and off easily. The paddle type just slide straight back. Of course when you don't have the helmet on, if you look down they just kind of slide off your head.

I've actually had my Ray Bans sucked off my face once while doing some oblique photography out the window of the Twin Otter. It happened in slow motion, they just started to levitate straight off. I had my hands full of expensive Hasselblad, lets see drop the camera or catch the glasses?

Oakly makes some helmet compatible frames. I've got some I wear with bike helmets.

Thanks dogpilot. I would be looking at an aviation style helmet. I'm with mtv on his take. I don't wear my snowboarding helmet to snowmobile or vise versa, because they aren't designed for that. So I would feel safer wearing a flying helmet for flying. Just me, but hey, its my head I guess.
Appreciate the input.
David

emflys wrote:Hey Rob - could you detail your process described of building up the LH 050? Sounds interesting.

tigers2007 wrote:Rob can you take some snapshots; I'm interested in seeing them. Also, have a shoulder harness should alleviate the issue if face smashing so long that it doesn't fail. Granted, they would be worthless in the event the dash or yoke comes into the face!

I've never been very good at the whole show and tell thing, and there honestly isn't a whole lot of rocket science behind this, but here ya go;

A bare bones Gallet LH 050 right now is going to set you back about $1050.. So, a tad more than a high end ANR headset, The Headsets Inc anr kit is about $169.... You can plan on spending a few bucks on nickle and dime stuff if you don't have a donor headset or old helmet laying around as welll. Here's an LH 250 for comparison. FWIW they are the same helmet, minus the outer visor and it's associated harware;


Gallet shells come in two sizes. If you are going with ANR you almost always want the larger shell as the ANR equipment eats up some real estate. This is the stock liner and pad system. All of these components come in various pad thicknesses to custom tailor the fit. The nape pad and edge roll stay regardless of which 'liner' system you use;


The stock 'liner system' leaves a little to be desired, specially if you are working it or fly all day. The two most common fixes are an Oregon Aero 'zeta liner' (a confor foam skull cap) or the Gallet 'comfort liner'. The comfort liner is a minimal upgrade (like a couple bucks) and IMHO is more comfortable than the zeta liner. Specially if you are flying somewhere really warm, or somewhere really cold.Cheap and good, how great is that? Like the stock system it comes with varying thicknesses of padding. the OA can be bought in two different thicknesses;


This is 'what's in the box' when you buy a Headsetsinc ANR kit. This is the 'helmet' kit. It is identical to the kit for DC headsets. If you always wanted ANR, but didn't want to swing the $$$ for the big names, this is the best thing going...
This is the auto shut off battery kit. you can buy the 'panel mount' kit, and it uses the same receptacle, so you get the best of both worlds... not even bose gives you that option ;


For comparison sake, here are some headset / helmet speakers. On the left is a standard speaker, the middle is an ANR setup, and on the right is what CEP's look like. I won't install them on this helemet after all, but all they do is have a tiny receptacle wired into the helmet side, in line with the speakers. You don the CEPs then the helmet, then you plug them into the helmet;


Another part of the comfort equation are the earcups and ear seals. Most people use hush cups they are a jumbo earsel made into a pocket. They can be had from OA or Boxell, depending on you wallet, and they come in 1 1/8" or 5/8". These go a long way in making the helmet more comfortable (and lighter), but you do lose a tiny bit of noise reduction over hard shells. Here is a comparison, but these are not new so they are somewhat deformed


Here is a comparison of hush cups and stock earcups. I don't think the stock cups will house ANR. I have always used peltor cups, or gov't surplus gentex cups they are similar to the stock 'crushable' cups but don't have the recessed area, on the right are the velcro discs you use to shim the cups to a perfect fit;


On the back of the Gallet is a 'keeper' for the comm harness;


What it looks like with the nape pad removed;


Pretty basic wiring. A volume control is also available, but I have those on the radio, so never bother. There is a good chance, the first time or two a guy does this he will forget to feed the cable through the ear cups or helmet first. Not that I ever did something like that


ANR on these is great, but like any other ANR, things have to be right. If your ear seals don't seal it doesn't perform as well, and if these little 'pads' aren't kept clean it will make weird background noises. Incidentally, if you buy a bare bones helmet you will need a mike boom and mic. If you don't have a donor you can get these here;
http://aviationhelmets.com or on ebay, spruce etc... ;



After it's wired up and tested it's about a 5 minute task to fit the re fit the helmet pads. This helmet made it to me at 2pm and by 3pm I was headed in to work with it in the truck... pretty basic...

FWIW, I still do't wear a helmet during my GA pleasure flying, but if I felt the need to mitigate danger, I wouldn't be fooling myself with a placebo. I have no affiliation with Gallet or their dealers, I just like them. There are even more economical ways to achieve this, a few years back the Peltor helmets were all the rage amongst the aerobatic crowd and racers, I think most of them have gone to Gallets now. They were a good bunch cheaper, as in the whole turn key helmet came in cheaper than the Gallet's empty shell... I wore a couple for a year or two. I think my feelings then were they were an awesome helmet, but did not fit the bill for heavy ag work, as you could not remove the liner for cleaning. If I were a weekender who just wanted better protection, I would seriously consider this route. A few years back I did a helmet comparison on an ag related site including the SPH4 & 5, HGU55, the Peltor, and the Gallet. Here is a pic or two from the Peltor;



FWIW, both of these examples are made of Kevlar with fire retardant fabric inside.
Anyways... food for thought if you are considering going this route...
Take care, Rob

Excellent write up, instructions, and photos. Thanks for doing that Rob! Last night I was looking at helmets on line and basically gave up due to too many options that I did not know enough about to be able to make sence of. Your write did a great job of filling in the blanks!