Helmets

I will move this out of the "Stay in, or get out?" thread for clarity.

I have long thought about helmets for several reasons. I will state
up front that I have not had access to the accident reports/pictures
and autopsy reports of several of the accidents that I have seen over
the last 25 years, but there appears to be opportunity for improved
safety from use of several things in the sport. The two that I have
thought about are helmets and the wire guards used in some Northern
European countries to guide wires over a pilot in event of hitting a
stranded wire fence.

We are the only sport I know of that does not use helmets for the
speeds/energies we deal with. Possible types of accidents where a
helmet would be useful include midairs were the cockpit is damaged, in
air incapacitation due to head trauma from turbulence, take off and
landing accidents where the glider impacts objects, and accidents
where the glider ends up inverted.

Possibly someone can tell me if a helmet that protected the back of
the head could have saved Robbie Robertson in 1986. We had a pilot in
the west bailout of a glider after being knocked unconscious after
hitting her head on the canopy. There was significant head trauma in
the accident at Minden a few years ago when the PIK-30 hit both barbed
wire and a fence post. Could the European wire guard coupled with a
helmet have saved the pilot? Just in the past few weeks we had an
accident in Utah where an 2-33 was hit by turbulence on short final
and ended up inverted on a road. The front seat student pilot had
significant head injuries.

I think this is an area where we as the soaring community from around
the world should be keeping records and at least providing information
that would help pilots make an informed decision on which safety tools
to choose to use.

New helmet technology is making helmets that are lighter and smaller
(not needing the 1" of padding). One company, Head Trip Helmets
(www.carbonfiberhelmets.com) is making a carbon fiber/kevlar helmet
that is only 23 onces (0.65 kg). I have seen new full face carbon
fiber at around 1 kg. We do not need the headset areas used in most
pilots helmets, so there are many fields such as kayaking, skiing,
motorcycles, etc that are already making helmets that would
potentially meet the needs of glider pilots.

To those that say they don't need helmets that is fine with me. At
this time it should be left to individuals to decide what they choose
to use, but we have to provide good data to make informed decisions.
We need to encourage the soaring organization around the world to
collect the data and provide information. The soaring Safety
Foundation in the USA and other similar groups should sponsor studies
in the area.

Tim