Your (pilot)seats have headrest?

[posi+iveLanding]

I believe it is a safety requirement in cars nowadays.
Just wondering if any of you sitting in pilot’s seat without headrest. All our classic 73s in the company without one.

Post

[cheater1239]

more chance of being rear-ended in your car...

[Checkboard]

Unless you fly a BAe 146 ;)

[FCS Explorer]

a head rest is a valueable safety feature since i can REST MY HEAD there on those long &/ early flights. and a rested pilot is always a good thing to have.

[haughtney1]

Unless you fly a BAe 146

The only jet ever to suffer a birdstrike from behind...:}

[powerstall]

seems to be a bit of luxury these days.... no head rests in any of our fleet....

:ugh:

[411A]

Hmmm, headrests are common on our L1011, generally called the R1 hostie....:}

[posi+iveLanding]

I want to revisit this thread after learning that all the crew in cockpit of Turkish Airlines killed in Amsterdam.

Anyone have information regarding the pilot's seat of the aircraft? Do they have the headrest? Can it be one of the contributing factors the crew cannot survive the crash?

Any information very much appreciated.

[Rainboe]

NGs do have headrests. Explain why they should make accidents more survivable?

[rubik101]

Surely, headrests, by definition, are for resting your head?
How they could prevent your head snapping forward and breaking your neck is beyond me. They might stop it falling off completely on the rebound though.

[pax5528]

In cars they are certainly a safety feature in addition to somewhere nice to put your head.

They are supposed to prevent/help whiplash injurys caused by the backlash movement of your head in a collision (if positioned properly)

[Iolar]

How feasible would it be to have cockpit airbag systems for large transport aircraft? I believe they have been tested in helicoptersProducts & Services - BAE Systems (http://www.baesystems.com/ProductsServices/bae_mps_prod_cockpitairbag.html)

[spannersatcx]

Motor cars are fitted with headrestraints not head rests.

[NorthRider]

Headwhats? :}

[ahramin]

Headrests protect from a rear impact. Unlikely to happen in an aircraft.

[Spitoon]

Although I dare say there are scenarios where a good headrest may help, in potentially survivable aircraft accidents I believe the killer is more usually crush injuries as parts of the aircraft move rearwards.

[Nightrider]

Headrests are in the Boeing Master Minimum Equipment List listed in section 25-21-5 and are a C item (10 days) and need to be installed.
However, even my airline removed this part from the CAA-approved MEL very silently, thus you may not even find it.
This is illegal and unacceptable.

They (headrests) help and improve to do the mandatory overhead panel check inflight....:}

[Halfbaked_Boy]

Spitoon,

Please don't ask me to find its location now, but a long time ago I happened to stumble upon a research paper documenting the most common causes of death resulting from aircraft accidents.

I seem to remember the real killer was blunt force trauma to the head and abdomen. Crush injuries were somewhere on there, but more common was blood loss/shock through dismemberment.

Don't seem to recall seeing whiplash on there however...

[Spitoon]

Halfbaked, we may well have read the same paper. Maybe I used the wrong term but in simple terms I had in mind pretty much what you describe - the forward speed causing bits of the aircraft ahead of the pilot to move back into the space occupied by that pilot.

[rubik101]

Headrests are NOT any help at all in an aircraft accident unless there happens to be a restraint to prevent the head moving forwards. An airbag, as suggested, would hold the head against the head restraint and so keep it reasonably still.
Impact with the earth at 200mph whether vertically or horizontally, will result in the head weighing around 200kg. The neck will snap, perhaps even detaching the head, and the headrest will do absolutely nothing to prevent it.
So stop getting hung up about MEL, DDG, etc.
They are a luxury to rest your head on during a long flight.

[steely76]

Rubik101 don't be so quick to think you know everything about what you're talking about. I've had a nose wheel collapse scenario in the sim and didn't have my headrest positioned properly.

In such a scenario when the collapse occured my head was flung back initially before the nose hit the tarmac. I suffered a mild whiplash injury which took months to heal. I was not incapacitated and was able to carry out my flying duties but always had a dull ache in the back of my neck. Imagine if it was worse. Guess I got lucky.

Therefore I would conclude that headrest can be an important safety issue. I can't say for sure if it is a requirement to have headrests or not but if you have them please use them wisely.