Warbird flying and helmets

[evangilder]

Some of the folks I fly with insist on all passengers and photographers wear helmets. We have all seen the results of bird strikes and what kind of damage they can do to aircraft. A bird coming through the canopy at your head can do serious, or worse damage to you head. One of the flight leads that I fly with, Viper, had a bird strike over the weekend and sent me this e-mail:

Subject: It won't happen to me


Have you EVER heard those words before?

For YEARS, people have heard me preach about Flight Suits and equally as important the use of a Flight Helmet. Our government has spent Millions of dollars in coming up with the proper attire that aviators should wear while flying our types of aircraft.

It will NEVER happen to me, is a thought I've had for quite some time, Oh I've thought about it but, Nah! it won't happen to me!!!!.

Last Thursday Oct 25 I was leading a flight of 2 into the Thermal, CA airport for the start of Desert Thunder VIII, hosted by our brothers in the Red Star Pilots Association.

Myself, Mule (my GIB) and my wingman(A) and his son (B) were coming in for a pass over runway 35. We were down to 500' at approximately 150 knots when a large black bird came through my prop and struck my front windshield, then went up over my front canopy. I did not see the bird till it came through my prop and all I had time to do was bend my head over so that IF it came through the front windshield at the very least I would take the impact on top of my head. I was very lucky, the front windshield survived the impact but I have some nasty scratches on both the windshield and the top of the front canopy.

It only takes one of these to make you a believer, the question is, had I been wearing a baseball cap and a headset, and had that bird come through the canopy, would I be here today to write this article.

I know I've heard it many times before, This is America and I don't have to wear a helmet if I don't want to, but ask yourself, does wearing a helmet just protect you? What if you were Lead or 3 in a four ship and you are wearing your baseball cap and you take a bird strike through the front windshield, would you survive? would the plane go out of control and possibly take out one or more of the other members of your flight. Is your baseball cap more comfortable? maybe, but it sure doesn't provide you with much protection.

Christmas, is coming, you might want to think about this as a gift. if your not a Christian, that's okay do something good for yourself, your family, your flight members.

But remember this! It JUST MIGHT BE YOUR TURN NEXT TIME.

Fly Safe

He was very lucky to have his canopy hold and to suffer only superficial damage to the aircraft. I have witnessed bird strikes where helmets have saved lives. If you want to fly in these old warbirds, they are a blast, but please make sure you are properly equipped for emergencies, as they can happen.

 

[gumbyk]

Amen.
I've got a friend who was flying a bi-plane when a flying wire broke. The helmet he was wearing was leather-covered kevlar, and the broken wire opened up the leather like a knife. You can just imagine what it would have done to his head.

 

[evangilder]

He was real lucky, Gumby! You never know what can happen up there. the more prepared you can be for it, the better off you will be.

 

[VBF-13]

My dad related an incident of a flock of gulls descending in the path of a Corsair as it was making its approach to the runway. The Corsair was promptly waved around for it. The gulls, they weren't budging their flight-path.

 

[gumbyk]

When I picked my helmet up they had one on display that had protected a guy 3 times in one accident:
He had an engine failure and ended up upside-down in the trees. In the initial impact, he hit his head on the instrument panel hard enough to split the leather - that's one.
There was a flash-fire, and the helmet has a leather flap that goes down your neck (to keep out the wind, but it appears to work for flames as well) - that's two.
As he was climbing out of the aircraft, he came crashing down out of the trees and landed on his head - thats three!

Amazingly, the shell of the helmet was relatively undamaged, but the leather and goggles were trashed.

 

[jimh]

I'll never argue the safety points of a hard hat...I can say that spending 5 to 8 hours in a hot cockpit of a Mustang and even a T-6 is extremely fatiguing. I have a fitted HGU-55 that is really comfortable but the heat and sweat make it impractical. I have a Clarity Aloft headset that I swear by, and wear an original leather helmet over top of that.

Jim

 

[evangilder]

A leather helmet is still better than a baseball cap for protection. The hard shell helmets are definitely not as comfortable, but the added benefit for me is that it gives me a place to mount a video camera.

I just got these in e-mail of a T-34C bird strike a bit ago. Look at the thickness of the front canopy. It went through that canopy and splattered on the pilots helmet. If he hadn't been wearing a helmet, he would almost certainly have been killed.

 

[wheelsup_cavu]

Not a mess I would want to have to clean...


Wheels

 

[J dog]

Definitely pays off to wear a helmet! It would stink to be not wearing a helmet if that happened.

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

I'll never argue the safety points of a hard hat...I can say that spending 5 to 8 hours in a hot cockpit of a Mustang and even a T-6 is extremely fatiguing. I have a fitted HGU-55 that is really comfortable but the heat and sweat make it impractical. I have a Clarity Aloft headset that I swear by, and wear an original leather helmet over top of that.

Don't forget the itchy hot spots that you can get on the forehead. I remember wearing my flight helmet over in Iraq for 8+ hours a day, and wanting to rip it off sometimes. Thing got smelly as **** too from all the sweat.

Here is a bird strike we had one flight.

http://www.ww2aircraft.net/forum/personal-gallery/military-memories-5408.html

We had a much worse one on another flight. It went through the windshield and blew feathers, blood and pieces of bird all over us and the passengers. I had a nice chunk of wing sitting on my crew seat.

 

[GrauGeist]

Man...that T-34 look hideous...thank God the jockey was alright!!

You would think that in a warbird, they have an armored windscreen to protect the pilot from frontal assault but other types don't have this luxury. I remember when I was a kid, a friend of the family was tooling his Corsair up the Newport Estuary to get into approach to Orange County AP and he flew through a flock of seabirds...it was a nasty situation, but he came out alright. Nothing breached his cockpit/windscreen but the leading edges of the F4U were dinged up pretty good along with the prop and remains were crammed into the cowling...but all was repairable. There was so much gore on his windscreen, he had to open the canopy and peek to get 'er down.