Hairy-
Actually, I was just thinking of a pair of sneakers. Or do RAF boots have fire-resistant properties? Maybe I can just get some nomex socks....
As to passangers:
1) Most of my friends are scared of heights and wouldn't go flying without being handcuffed to the airframe;
2) Most of my friends like these funky things called seatbelts, crumple zones and airbags
3) It's my head. If I get rich and buy/make my own plane, I'll get a second helmet and (enormous) growbag. If not, well, erm. I'll assure them that if a puzzled seagull hits the windscreen, I'll still be able to see and land the plane as opposed to being unconcious in the seat with a seagull's tailfeathers protruding from my forehead.
Flying sensibly ... always a good idea. Not perfect in that, as an engineer, I've never heard of a perfectly reliable machine, but still not a course of action to rubbish. I just happen to think birdstrike is a valid worry when few GA pilots get above 10000ft and most get over 100mph. Maybe in a Cub, the poor confused seagull would bounce - but I'd rather have the full kit then anyway after the reports on cub stall/spin accidents. And last I checked, military and ems pilots can wear protective gear and still fly sensibly. Having a helmet on doesn't really act as an encouragement to spin into the ground from 800' up...
As to the driving bit - to be honest, I'd prefer to have a helmet for my car, but I drive a citroen ZX
Those of you who drive one know what I mean
And look at most bikers - they wear full leather/kevlar/steel getups with a helmet on top. Most modern cars are so complex because they are effectively designing the car as being your integral helmet/growbag.
And I hereby promise that when I get the full kit (those LH050's are sodding expensive!), I will get into a C150 (even though I'm still hunting down a J-3 to train in) and get my photo taken and I'll put it on the web for one and all to laugh at.
BTW, you can get civilian nomex suits in colours other than that ichy-looking sage green
I think that puce might look fetching ...