LS3 headrest question

[bill palmer]

My LS3 headrest has a small 3-sided metal channel about 2” longwith two holes in the top (each about 3/16”)

Does anyone know what that is for?
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Ub6zxvRg7tL7lrghYNUFJ7onxROKgYlu

Thanks

Wfpalmer at gmail.

[C-FFKQ (42)]

Turnpoint Camera mount?

[Dan Daly[_2_]]

On Monday, April 23, 2018 at 3:32:52 PM UTC-4, Bill Palmer wrote:
> My LS3 headrest has a small 3-sided metal channel about 2” longwith two holes in the top (each about 3/16”)
>
> Does anyone know what that is for?
> https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Ub6zxvRg7tL7lrghYNUFJ7onxROKgYlu
>
> Thanks
>
> Wfpalmer at gmail.

Could be for a boom mic.

[Bryce Sammeter]

I annual two different LS3’s and both have a boom mike mounted there.

Hope that helps.

[[email protected]]

On Thursday, April 26, 2018 at 7:40:06 AM UTC-4, Bryce Sammeter wrote:
> I annual two different LS3’s and both have a boom mike mounted there.
>
> Hope that helps.

I sawed it off. I always thought it was for a boom mike. But in a crash involving my head slamming back onto the soft headrest, the bracket could have penetrated my skull (as nearly happened with a U.S. Team member at the World Championships in 1972, IIRC).

Chip Bearden

[[email protected]]

Just in case you crash tail first at high speed huh? Sounds likely.

[Jonathan St. Cloud]

On Thursday, April 26, 2018 at 6:25:29 PM UTC-7, wrote:
> Just in case you crash tail first at high speed huh? Sounds likely.

Or you come to a sudden stop. Ever heard of whiplash?

[[email protected]]

Yep, whiplash happns when you are hit from behind, just like I said....

[Paul Agnew]

Not exactly...to be more accurate...

Running into something that stops your forward motion (the ground) causes your head to whip forward, then whip back after reaching the forward limits of your spine. (RIP Dale Sr.) That's whiplash and it's what messed up my neck in 1985. (Totalled my TR-7...)

Any collision, from front or rear, causes whiplash. Ask your local neurosurgeon or chiropractor.

Paul A.

[[email protected]]

On Thursday, April 26, 2018 at 9:25:29 PM UTC-4, wrote:
> Just in case you crash tail first at high speed huh? Sounds likely.

Not that likely, but I know of two occasions.

"On this landing the pilot's head,
on first impact, quartering to the front,
went through the canopy with little
damage because the mounting rails
and quarter-inch steel canopy retaining
rods bent at extreme angles ( and
the plastic broke) to absorb most of
the energy. However, on the second
impact, traveling backwards, the pilot's
head was driven back into the headrest.
Fortunately, dead on center. The
leather cover and padding were driven
back into the headrest and two steel
mounting brackets, 1 x 1/8-inch plate
and 5 or 6 inches long came slicing
out through the front of the headrest.
They made significant bruises on either
side of the pilot's head and could have
penetrated had the head been slightly
turned."

A.J. Smith writing about the crash of his Nimbus II on the last day at the Worlds in Vrsac in 1972 (Soaring magazine, Apr 1973).

I'm also unfortunately very familiar with a fatal crash where the fuselage impacted in a relatively flat position, sinking at high speed, and the pilot's head snapped back hard because there was no headrest (early ASW 20).

As I said: I sawed it off. Just in case. If we could plan when and how we crash, we could save a lot of money on unneeded insurance, parachutes, etc. :)

Chip Bearden