Headset Slipping under G
 

Hi Guys,
Working toward my aero endorsement today and I found my headset tended to slip backward off my head - how does one overcome this problem? Obviously without looking like an idiot with a helmet etc...

Cheers

Btw: headset is a lightspeed zulu.

Only do 1G manouvers...:E

Use a cloth helmet.

DC are better under g because of the higher clamping pressure. As I recall the headset alone was good for about +3/-1. If you stick the cable under your chest strap it not only keeps the cable out of you eyes, but makes it easier to reel back the headset if it comes off. Some guys make up elastic chin straps. The best thing is the DC cloth helmet. I've seen lightspeed headsets inserted in them, but they are really made for DC headsets. They are outrageously expensive for what they are, but its the real thing. A second had set of DC headsets bought off ebay from the US as a dedicated headset for aeros will be way cheaper than the cloth cap. Do the headsets inc conversion with the velcro battery pack and you'll have a nice unit.

I find that if you move the headset so it is angled slightly forward of the top of your head it stays there with no major problems.

Looks odd, but I used a bootlace tied to the headset frame as a chin strap. For deluxe version use one of those springloaded slider thingys you find on clothing or bag drawstrings to set the tension in the chinstrap.:)

Yeah this always worked for me too.

Yes, after 100 combat missions at North Viet Bankstown ones mask does tend to droop a little.....


:E:E:E

velcro??....

Use a helmet, helps with bird strikes

No the helmet is only really required whilst learning aero's. It is a sound, solid investment for protection from ones instructor each time you fail to follow basic instructions or simply do something dumb.

:ok:

get a headband or better use ur tie

Shave your head and use tit tape.

I have over a thousand hours on aerobatics ~+5 - 6, -2 and my headset (DC) has never moved (maybe I have a big head).
I find placement of the headset leads important, slip it under your shoulder harness and leave about 10cm excess otherwise if you turn your head too quickly it will yank your headset right off and that kind of distraction is something you don't need when you are learning aero's.
Good luck, the aero's really improve your handling skills and your ability to read the aircraft.

XG

Never ceases to amaze me how safety is "uncool". Why wouldn't you use a helmet?? I don't give a sh!t about what others think... if the helmet is going to increase my chances of survival in the case of an accident, or during a bailout, or a canopy jettison, or a bird strike, or a.... etc etc etc, then I'm going to wear one!!

My kids have grown up always wear helmets on their bikes and seatbelts in cars... no helmet = no bike... no seatbelt = walking!! It's now a reflex for them to grab a helmet or wear a seatbelt, regardless of what others around them are doing.

I wear a helmet when water and snow skiing, and when flying aeros... does that make me an idiot??

And if you want my opinion then you can't go past the kevlar Gentex HGU-55 with ANR - light and comfortable... and you can even get it painted up like MAVERICK!!!!

The issue with helmets is that you need to know what you are trying to protect against. If you don't make that assessment first, you're just w**king. Helmets for race cars are different from motorbikes are different from cyclists are different from equestrian.

Wearing of parachutes is not required in Australia and very few aerobatic pilots wear them, so unless you are one of this minority, there is no requirement for bail out protection.

One of the reasons helmets are worn in car racing is because of the potential of debris inside the cabin hitting you on the head, or hitting your head against the roll cage. Neither of these conditions exist in an aeroplane and frankly, in an aerobatic aircraft if you hit the ground with any real force its lack of crashworthiness may mean the hitting your head on the canopy is the least of your worries.

The arguments against helmets are increased weight on your neck under "g" and reduced peripheral vision.

One of the advantages of aviation is that very good data is kept on accidents. So we don't need to shadow box at potential risks, we can consider the pattern of history. None of the people I know who have been injured or killed in aerobatic aircraft would have benefited one iota from a helmet. In fact I can't recall any that would have benefited from a parachute. Although I had an animated dinner one night with Kermit Weeks who reeled of a list of people he knew who had been saved by parachutes.

The point on chutes is a good one, I see no practical need for one as the only time you will use it is if you break a wing or have some sort of structural failure and in that instance fat chance attempting to bail out without an ejection seat throwing you out as the acceleration of the aircraft will most probably keep you firmly in your seat anyway.

As for helmets, I see other pilots using them at comps etc, their reasoning is it protects their heads from the canopy during flick rolls etc...:rolleyes:. I even saw one git wearing one with oxygen attached (<2500ft AMSL) provided many laughs.

Its fun taking the piss out of them. I don't see any advantage other than providing a useful scoop/bucket for the contents of my skull should I have a prang.

Parachutes....the use of
 

And if you dont have one,....you just dont give yourself a second chance.
Death is fatal.!!!

Examples...Chipmunk. Failed to recover from spin. 2 shilling coin found in control system limiting stick movement. 2 dead. Historical, I know

Very recent. Pitts 12 Failed to recover from inverted? spin. 2 dead.

Ditto as seen on TV US airshow recently. 1 dead.

NZ Formation aeros practice. One Harvard cuts the tail off another. Next option for the tail-less? None. 1 dead.

Glider pilot gets flung thru the canopy in a violent thermal after removing straps to adjust instrument. Next option... pull ripcord. 1 lives to tell the tale.

US airshow pilot, when giving a Stearman a VERY had work out, had a wing fold up.
Next option... "goodye, charlie" and pull the rip cord. 1 lives to tell the tale.

And I bet the two instructors in a Tommahawk that was reluctatant to come out of a spin had a think flash "parachute"!!??!! on the way down. Surveve, but only just .
On Harvard Adventure flights in the US... parachute required, a briefing and etc.
And if little old Granny wont jump because she's too afraid, the pilot can chuck her out, because the 'chutes were fitted with barometric auto release.
Height and time permitting of course.

For FLs/high altitude mapping in PNG, I used one as a back cushion. That was MY insurance policy, because if we had a fire.... no chance of getting to the ground before the wing fell off. 2 like aircraft fell to earth, fiery and wrongly while I was there.. so I felt much better for it. At least I had another option.

As for PIC..???. Kiss kiss... goodbye captain.!!

Examples...Chipmunk. Failed to recover from spin. 2 shilling coin found in control system limiting stick movement. 2 dead. Historical, I know

Assuming you have never been in a spin, I challenge you to climb out of a cockpit while the aircraft is spinning, good luck.


Very recent. Pitts 12 Failed to recover from inverted? spin. 2 dead.

Again, simply opening the canopy and hoping to fallout faster than the aircraft is decesding which from memory in a Pits is >6000ft/minute is prob not possible.

NZ Formation aeros practice. One Harvard cuts the tail off another. Next option for the tail-less? None. 1 dead.

Lets say he was at the legal minimum for aerobatics of 3000ft AGL, with no tail i can assume said aircraft was in a pretty steep descent which would mean they might have had maybe 20 seconds to get out and inflate the chute, chute wouldnt have made a difference

Glider pilot gets flung thru the canopy in a violent thermal after removing straps to adjust instrument. Next option... pull ripcord. 1 lives to tell the tale.

What the?? That man deserves a Darwin award, sounds like a urban myth to me

US airshow pilot, when giving a Stearman a VERY had work out, had a wing fold up.
Next option... "goodye, charlie" and pull the rip cord. 1 lives to tell the tale.

He must have had a fair bit of altitude which implies he was not in an airshow, do you have details of this incident, I would be interested.

And I bet the two instructors in a Tommahawk that was reluctatant to come out of a spin had a think flash "parachute"!!??!! on the way down. Surveve, but only just .

Reluctant to come out of a spin, x2 instructors. I assume there was some sort of failure or is it the two instructors were just dopes. Most GA aircraft descend >6000ft per minute in a stable spin, by the time you are out of the incipient phase, stable and then attempt to come out of it, you only have thirty seconds maybe before you hit the ground. That would not be enough time to have the ohh bugger moment and realise that you need to get out and then get clear of the aircraft and inflate your chute assuming you can even get out in the first place.

On Harvard Adventure flights in the US... parachute required, a briefing and etc.
And if little old Granny wont jump because she's too afraid, the pilot can chuck her out, because the 'chutes were fitted with barometric auto release.
Height and time permitting of course.

I believe on any flight in the USA conducting aerobatics, parachute is required.

For FLs/high altitude mapping in PNG, I used one as a back cushion. That was MY insurance policy, because if we had a fire.... no chance of getting to the ground before the wing fell off. 2 like aircraft fell to earth, fiery and wrongly while I was there.. so I felt much better for it. At least I had another option.

Ok, I agree with that, rugged terrain with no where to land, fair call.

A few years back many of the ultralight guys wore helmets regularly, but not many do nowdays, probably because the types of aircraft they fly have changed. It's not a bad idea in any aircraft as long as it's comfortable and it doesn't restrict your vision and ability to fly the aircraft. Helmets are a good idea in certain low wing aircraft - RV's, SportStar, Corby, KR, Morgan Series, Liberty and many others.

Not many aircraft i know of have padded instrument panels... and sadly there are a few good men and aviators that might still be with us if they wore a helmet.

even an engine failure and subsequent sudden stop on landing if you hit something can prove fatal after getting the AH embedded in your forehead.

Not necessarily. How about a skyraider chopping a mustang up at 800ft - and a successful bailout - it didn't chop the tail off entirely, but severed the elevator cables.

Video: Incredible Piloting Skills After Midair Collision | Autopia | Wired.com

No myth, but positively darwinian:

http://2009.gfa.org.au/Docs/ops/safe...ts/FSA0600.pdf

In the good old days spinning was a mandatory part of the syllabus... and a way of saving time on descent from on high.

I am sure there were a few WW2 trainees who bailed out when Tigers or, later when Chipmunks were the go. Some old RAAF/RAF chappies might have examples.

When doing spins in sailplanes, again there would have been no problem seperating self from the machine... might have needed a good kick off, but do-able.

gx...The glider story is true... see back issue of Aust Gliding..."X" years ago. At Gawler was it?? Might have even made the old 'crash comic' / Safety Digest.

The US Stearman exponent, whose name escapes me, I think was the same guy killed in a mid air collision at an airshow.... he was flying the Stearman with a jet slung underneath. Spectacular exit that's for sure.!! You tube????

As for the Harvard guy... I'm sure he would have given it his best shot... how long does it take to jettison the canopy, punch the harness release... and heave himself over the side..5.?.10 seconds.???...MUCH better to try than NO alternative.

Also optional in NZ... but most of the serious aeros pilots I know DO wear them. We did in our Pitts. It's all about providing yourself more options should things turn pear-shaped.

And for those that haven't inserted themselves into a Pitts cockpit, the instrument panel is VERY close.

Oh and for the uneducated... the -55 is neither heavy nor reduces peripheral vision.

well there seems to be lots of support for helmets etc, can anyone recommend a good helmet? obviously things like ANR etc would be good too.

I've used helmets for a long time now: the choice is really an individual one, some heads prefer one make, some another: same as motorbike helmets, they tend to suit different head shapes!

I have used Alpha now for the past 15+ years, but whatever you get I would recommend CEP rather than ANR. I had ANR fitted to my last Alpha and it couldn't cope with doors off ops in helicopters (same for open cockpit stiff wing), so my Alpha Eagle has CEP which is absolutely brilliant for clarity and noise attenuation. Plus it can be transferred between headsets and helmets, and always has the fallback of using the built in speakers :ok:

Interesting article by John Morrissey in the May 2011 issue of Sport Aerobatics magazine. He and a colleague between them had ejected 4 times during their military careers. They did a little exercise - each 4 times. Sit in a Pitts S-2S for some time in a hangar then when some-one bangs on the fuselage start the activity - open canopy, remove headset, release two safety harnesses, stand up on the seat and get one leg out onto the wing walk. Their best time was 23 seconds to get out of this aeroplane.

Incidentally, I have used a cat collar to keep a headset on doing serious negative G until I saved up enough to buy a locally made leather "helmet" to suit a DC.

Like xgjunkie, my std DC stays on doing around -2 to +5.

Apart from stopping a bruising from the canopy in the Harvard, helmets also help with noise attenuation :ok:

what is the difference between ANR and CEP? sorry, just never heard of CEP before.

ANR is Active Noise Reduction, requiring a powered input into the speakers to cancel outside noise. CEP (Communications and Ear Protection) is a passive system much like iPod in-ear speakers, which can be used in either headsets or helmets. Plugging the CEP into the helmet/headset feeds the audio signal to the in-ear speakers and turns off the normal speakers: unplugging the CEP returns the headset to normal operation.

For the OP wanting a method of keeping his Lightspeed headset in place, Gibson and Barnes have some reasonably priced headset helmets :ok: