Helmets Restricted?

[Hard Boiled Egg]

However I do have a huge amount of respect for what these old S76's can take as far as punishment, and it helps put me as ease.

 

 

Ryan,

 

It matters little how much "punishment" the airframe can take, it is what your head is doing on the inside when that airframe is rolling around after impact. Additionally, what you take as a "tank" is nothing compared to what it would look like after a crash. Aircraft are designed to fly, not crash. Your feelings in that regard are a false sense of security, little else.

 

Not being allowed to wear helmets due to image - particularly after considerable research extolling their virtues - is archaic thinking, and contrary to what we're trying to accomplish here. That being progress.

 

 

 

 

[R22Captain]

Ask the piilots of the EMS 76 that crashed in N Ont.....thank you Gentex.

[Ryan]

Yeah, every pilot here is well aware that if things go dreadfully wrong on the sched service we are at a severe disadvantage without helmets. It's a calculated risk we are free to walk away from whenever we choose, like any job.

[R22Captain]

For sure Ryan...I here and respect what you're saying. Hopefully you didn't take that as a stab at you or the HJ guys

 

just adding my 2 pennies into the fire

[Ryan]

No worries man, no offense taken from anyone at all. It's a good topic and worth being discussed.

 

The real kicker for me was last summer though. Flying our 206L but I couldn't fit in the thing with my helmet on. Go figure... I can fit in an R22 and a straight 206 with a helmet, but not this one particular 206L. Merde.

[R22Captain]

ya I'm short and round and barely fit in certain jetbox's our company has. Wonder if it's the seats from different vendors? Or were the engineers at bell making a weak attempt to make the thing comfortable? Or were the guys on the assembly line drinking?

[Max Continuous]

No worries man, no offense taken from anyone at all. It's a good topic and worth being discussed.

 

The real kicker for me was last summer though. Flying our 206L but I couldn't fit in the thing with my helmet on. Go figure... I can fit in an R22 and a straight 206 with a helmet, but not this one particular 206L. Merde.

 

I've got lots of L-3 time and my helmet used to get barked up on the heat vent every time I leaned forward. The cockpit is smaller than a regular 206 which I always found strange.

We have a newer one in the fleet now and the drivers side does seem bigger.

The dash is smaller and the heat vents at the top of the windshield are gone.

Max

[Black Mike]

I've got lots of L-3 time and my helmet used to get barked up on the heat vent every time I leaned forward. The cockpit is smaller than a regular 206 which I always found strange.

We have a newer one in the fleet now and the drivers side does seem bigger.

The dash is smaller and the heat vents at the top of the windshield are gone.

 

Max TQ,

The dreaded heat ducts are back in the L-4's, The Aircom heater vent is at your feet and also comes out the defog vents in the front windows. I think the Paravion heater is the same- I will find out soon. The ducts are put back in so the pilot has something to bang his head on when he has nasty customers only- no air comes out of them.

Bell said they cannot be replaced with the smooth Jetranger helmet friendly ones.

 

B.M.

 

[Black Mike]

Sorry max TQ, I typed in the wrong box I guess. I'm not too good with computers

B.M.

[koalaa119]

I personally know of three helicopter pilots who have survived incidents most likely due to wearing helmets. Two were bird strikes and one was a crash that ended with a part of the main rotor blade contacting the pilots helmet. I have flown tours and many hours hauling customers and I have a number of reasons I fly with a helmet. 1.) provides me with two sets of sunglasses which would be impossible since I were glasses ( side note: photo sensitive glasses don't work in most helicopters because of the UV windows). 2.) It provides me protection when flying in the curve(longline, survey, etc.) 3.) It provides me protection from bird strikes, hopefully insuring that I don't get knocked out and can get the a/c to the ground without killing all my passengers. 4.) I find that if I don't use a helmet I were a ball cap. This I find causes issues with a headset in very short order due to the button on the top. If not wearing a ball cap, I find it hurts my head.

 

I will admit that the first couple of days of wearing a helmet gets tiring if I haven't been flying much lately, but with the number of close calls with birds stikes that I have had, I feel naked flying with out it. I have seen one company that provides helmets for there customers if they want them which I thought was awesome. I have never had a customer, client or passenger that asked why I wear it not recognize my reasons and respect them.

 

Shortly after receiving my training I came across a publication from Bell about bird strikes from that year. It gave a discription of the Bell a/c involved in the last year with bird strikes and estimated the costs and fatalities. Almost every single time the pilot was wearing a helmet, there were no fatalities. But in almost every case that the pilot wasn't wearing a helmet there was a loss of all passengers. I wish I still had the article because it was such a obvious conclusion even though bell wasn't suggesting the use of helmets it sure came across. It didn't take me long flying all over Canada to realize the real and present danger of birds, Pelicans in Manitoba, geese along the east coast of Hudson's bay, migration paths all over the prairies, soaring eagles at 10,000 feet in the mountains. Birds are with us and with the helicopters that I fly and have flown, they are coming through the windshield if you hit them. By far this is the main reason that I wear a helmet. I would be interested to know the stats on bird stikes versus accidents to know if it is more of a threat then our trustworthy a/c falling out of the sky. Either way, they are personal protective equipment and I wear it when I fly or I feel wrong.

 

Fly safe, watch out for birds and don the bucket