Bone Domes

[abgd]

And, your safety would be vastly improved if you wore said bone dome whilst driving to the airfield.

It always used to be said that driving helmets would prevent more deaths-per-hour than cycling helmets (by the cycling lobby). I suspect it was true in the 1980s but not any more. Airbags and passive safety means that in nearly 4 years in A&E I've personally only seen one fatal road accident - a motorcyclist. The stuff kids do - and get away with - is stupendous. Reversing into lamp-posts at 70mph. Driving off cliffs and being rescued from trees. All sorts.

2013 figures for cars were 5.6 deaths per billion vehicle miles. Assuming 50mph (which seems generous) that's 5.6 deaths per 20 million hours or about 1 death per 3.6 million hours. GA runs at about 1 fatal accident per 100,000 hours (which will equate to more than 1 death per 100,000 hours), on a par with motorcycling (212 deaths per billion miles).

I learnt to fly in the chippie at Swinderby back in the day. Grow bags and domes were part of the process of introducing candidates into the stream for fast jets. It was to acclimatise you right from the start into the military kit and way of doing things.

Now, in peacetime the military accident rate is actually quite competitive. 85 US F16 pilots have died in 10,491,752 hours : 0.8 deaths per 100,000 flying hours.

The idea that GA flying is safer than driving simply doesn't cut it. It probably isn't even safer than peacetime military flying - particularly if you're flying something 'characterful' rather than a C172. The idea that military pilots need to wear lots of protective clothing because their flying is dangerous, but we don't because our flying is safe, simply doesn't hold water.

A counter-argument I can see is that our flying is so dangerous that protective equipment is useless. The ratio between serious injuries and fatalities is low enough that you could argue that we either survive intact, or are mangled well beyond any hope of survival. On the other hand my military surplus Nomex garb is cheaper than a pair of new jeans and a woollen sweater so why not?

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https://www.gov.uk/government/upload...-2013-data.pdf

https://publicapps.caa.co.uk/docs/33/CAP667.PDF

http://www.safety.af.mil/Portals/71/...stics/F-16.pdf