On Fri, 21 May 2004 16:04:45 +0000, Pete Schaefer wrote:

[snip]

There's probably a ton of data on stuff that people have tried for
driver protection in the automotive world. Unfortunately, air-bags are
out of the question for aviation use (for the pilot at least....probably
for everyone). But there must be a ton of other stuff. I'd bet that
NASA has sponsored a bunch of research under the GA revitalization
thingy that would be applicable. Rather than us spend our time
speculating here, maybe some Google time is warranted.

I agree that sounds sensible. I have a horror of reinventing the wheel -
and with a biomedical background I don't immediately have the ability
either (when it comes to engineering). I've googled a bit, but not found
much. When I'm less busy in a few months, I may give it another go.

I did just found this website website though:

http://home.att.net/~m-sandlin/goat.htm

describing some glider designs by a guy who believes he has built some
useful structural protection into them.

AC