I remember an article somewhere.. can't find it.. the 5 point in a glider
really only keeps you from submarining under the lap belt in case of a
landing accident as you rush forward from a rapid stop..

although there is some credence that the 5th strap will help keep the center
of the seat belt low on your waist/hips.. and hold your hips down, but it's
the shoulder straps that keep your head off the canopy.. your body still
articulates around your waist when you hit that bump that puts your head on
(or into) the canopy

BT

"Bill Daniels" wrote in message
news:rKGtd.730764$8_6.17288@attbi_s04...
I know there has been long threads about belts, 4-point, 5-point etc... I
still think there is more that needs to be discussed.

I am nursing a stiff neck from repeatedly banging my head against the
canopy
on a particularly violent encounter with wave rotor yesterday. The tow
pilot is also nursing bruises from banging around in the Pawnee cockpit.
After release, I got rolled and pitched past the vertical several times -
it
was that rough. I started to think that I might get knocked out if my
head
hit the canopy any harder. To make things worse, I still didn't contact
the
wave.

My 4-point belts were as tight as I could get them but they still didn't
do
enough to keep my head from hitting the canopy. 5-point belts would have
helped, but probably not enough.

I'm starting to think about a pair of short arms that swing down over the
pilots shoulders and lock in that position. The idea is to provide an
additional, robust restraint to prevent the pilots head from hitting the
canopy. Opening the canopy would release the locks so the arms would
spring
up and back out of the way.

Bill Daniels