Re: Flight safety, to much ?
My thoughts on this are . . .
Fly with whatever YOU feel comfortable, when thinking about safety don't compare what you are doing with what the next guy is doing, especially if he is doing less than what YOU feel comfortable with.
If it gives you an extra peace of mind to wear a vest, then wear it. If you want to wear a helmet then wear it, I have never even tried a helmet on. And even then, we are humans and our way of thinking is different.
I remember one day having a huge argument with another pilot, as we were ready to cross the Sea of Cortez, it meant 2 hours over water, no rafts, a whole city without electricity waiting for us, he had 8,000 hours over water I had no meaningful amount of time overwater, he said in 20 years, of flying over water he'd never had the slightest hiccup, I said I didn't care, there was always a first time.
Factors we were in a pristine, HUMS equipped Bell 412, the water was warm, the sea was calm, went right over 100's of boats on the way, and it was only a 2 hour flight what could happen????? My way of thinking was a different one, but even today I realize that if put there again I might have done differently.