I was noticing that in a movie tonight and it seems that it happens a lot on TV and in the movies (which is, sadly, the source of most of my experience with helicopters.)
Why do helicopter pilots wear helmets? Is the normal operation of a helicopter so violent that possible head injury could result? I cannot imagine that any sort of helmet would protect from being hit by a rotor. Fixed-wing pilots don’t typically wear helmets unless the plane is used for violent maneuvers, such as stunts or combat. It seems that passengers in helicopters don’t always wear helmets.
I don’t think that non-military helicopter pilots wear helmets, at least none I’ve ever flown with did.
Military pilots wear helmets to protect against small-arms fire, and shrapnel.
Actually, I’ve never worn a helmet in a helicopter. But take a look at the roles the pilots are flying when they do. Your typical news helicopter pilot will wear a headset. But helicopters often operate in rough conditions and at low altitudes. In case of a mechanical failure over a forest, near powerlines, working a long-line, fighting fires, etc. there may not be a lot of altitude or airspeed for a successful autorotation. Also, some missions have more of a risk risk of striking an obstacle than poking holes in the sky or patroling a freeway.
Helicopter helmets are a little different from the ones worn by jet pilots. Jet helmets (such as the HGU-26/P or HGU-33/P) have foam liners that are good for one good whack – such as may happen on ejection. Helicopter helmets (such as the SPH-4) usually have ‘suspensions’ inside. Those are good when you’re being knocked around in the cockpit as you crash through the trees. That is, they’re good for multiple impacts.
When I was in the CAP there was a guy who wore an HGU-26/P in his Cessna 150 (which was painted up like an Air Force aircraft). I asked him if it wasn’t a bit of overkill. He said, ‘No, overkill is when you crash on a mission and your head hits the instrument panel without a helmet.’ Yes, SAR often flying puts one in high terrain and unpredictable winds. But I think he just wanted to wear a helmet. (And for light aircraft, I think a heli helmet would be better in case of a crash.)
So most civil helicopter pilots are not going to be wearing helmets. Those that do are likely involved in a type of flying (firefighting, medivac, logging, construction, etc.) where there is a higher liklihood of a helmet being needed.
Johnny L.A., thanks for taking the time to respond.
So, military guys will typically wear helmets. That makes sense. How come it seems (possibly incorrectly) to me that air-ambulance pilots will wear helmets, but the flight nurses or other crew don’t? Is it typically very noisy while in a moving helicopter?
So, it sounds like the pilot wears a helmet if the operating environment can reasonably result in a crash. I take it that the pilots of the recent news helicopter crash in Phoenix likely would not have been wearing helmets. Would helmets have mattered in such a collision?
I haven’t been around the medivac crowd, so I’ll have to guess. Air ambulances often have to land near obstructions – often at night and/or in poor weather. Helmets would be prudent in this type of flying. Why don’t the nurses/paramedics wear them? I’m pretty sure that I’ve seen some wearing them. But if they don’t then it’s probably to communicate better with the patients and to be able to use some equipment (a stethescope comes to mind). And yes, the piston powered helicopters I’ve flown are very noisy. You need headsets.
From what I saw of that crash, helmets would not have made a difference.
When I was working in New Zealand, the vast majority of helicopter pilots I knew wore helmets. They were generally involved in activities such as deer hunting, stock mustering, search and rescue etc. I used to wear an SPH5 while flying a Pitts and T6 (fixed wing aircraft.) Partly because they have better noise attenuation than a headset (even pulling the visor down cuts out some extra noise), and also because a lot of tail-dragger accidents happen while landing and are survivable with the correct protective equipment. The same could be said of helicopter accidents. They often happen close to the ground and if you protect your head you may well walk away from one.
A better question is probably, “why don’t more civilian pilots wear helmets?”
I guess the answer to that is that most civilian pilots are involved in low risk activities, also helmets are hot and heavy and no one wants to look like a wannabe Maverick in a Cessna 152. There’s a certain amount of cultural cringe amongst pilots. Conscious of being sterotyped as having big egos, many pilots will try and avoid being seen as too cool (and there’s no doubt that pilot helmets with the dark visor are very cool.)
Edit: A big advantage to wearing a helmet when doing aerobatics or any other extreme manoeuvreing is that the stay on, a headset may come off under negative g loads. The other option is a cloth cap that a standard David Clarke headset will fit in to.
Could it have something to do with movies and TV in particular? If the hero is supposed to be shown at the controls of an actual flying vehicle and the actor isn’t a pilot, all you need to do is put a helmet with tinted lens on a real pilot with vaguely similar build as the actor and you’re all set.
Ok, here’s a pix of a NZ helicopter filling it’s hopper while applying fertiliser on a farm. The pilot is wearing a helmet, but you can’t see it in this shot. His flight boots on the other hand are Red Bands (short gumboots) :smack: Just behind the tractor is powerlines. A big danger also are the empty bags, rotors don’t find them digestible.
RandMcnally, what’s the big red emergency stop button for? :eek: Won’t everyone be pissed if it got pushed when you’re 5000 ft up?
US Army crew chief (2 years) on Huey UH-1M gunship. We flew with doors open (alot). Take it from me, when the chicken hawk does a combat takeoff from a grassy field, dirt, loose grass, small stones, sand (basically anything not nailed down or painted) starts moving. If it hits you it stings. Ask any motorcyclist what following behind a fully loaded dump truck feels like. Catch a small stone or a bumble bee in the face; it leaves a mark. Now, fire the M60 from the door and the hot brass coming out catches prop wash… well, that’s coming at you too! It all makes for a very exciting flight. When we did dustoff, we kept the doors closed. Mainly because the guys had IVs and stuff hanging from the roof or loose on the litter.
