Survivability

[BBDO]

I was about to purchase a new headset and was considering which make etc when I read the recent thread on "flying fashions". Several people made, what I believed to be, very valid comments along the lines of - "it doesn't matter if you look like an idiot with gloves, helmet and flying suit, you're more likely to survive if you have to park in a field".
In the light of some recent fatal accidents eg the light plane in Portugal and at least two fatal accidents in the US, I was wandering:
a) whether people thought that a helmet and Nomex flying suit are likely to seriously improve your chances of survival in a light aircraft incident?
b) Also, have any studies been done on light aircraft accidents to establish whether measures such as these may have saved lives?
I'm now considering buying a helmet instead as for the extra £100 it might save my life? I fly the Scottish Aviation Bulldog but don't do aerobatics in it.
What do people think??

[Romeo Romeo]

Some people who fly light aircraft for a living (RAF, Police and Ambulance pilots) wear helmets and they are much more highly trained with more sophisticated aircraft than us and so are probably less likely to end up in a field due to an engine failure or upside-down due to a very dodgy landing. Certainly fireproof clothing and a helmet has to help.

I suppose the same arguments were had about helmets for motor-bikes many years ago and more recently for bicycles.

[englishal]

I suppose it depends on how the fatalities occour. I mean, if you do an Earl Docherty then chances are that a helmet and gloves won't do much. In a forced landing into a swamp then a helmet may save your life.

There are some interesting statistics from the NTSB (latest document is 1997) which can be seen at:

http://www.ntsb.gov/publictn/2000/ARG0001.pdf

Although this doesn't give any indication of whether a helmet would do much good in a crash, it makes very interesting reading.

Cheers
EA

[Genghis the Engineer]

Always a difficulty, since the obvious answer is not to fly at-all, and then you're far safer.

My personal views on this, for what they're worth are...

- I don't fly except wearing a Nomex or equivalent suit.
- I have reservations about flying aerobatics without a parachute.
- If I'm wearing a parachute, I carry a release knife.
- I don't fly open cockpit without a hard shelled helmet. I wouldn't do aerobatics without a hard shelled helmet unless I was very confident of my handling of the aeroplane.
- I have reservations about night flying in a single without a parachute.
- Who the hell knows what I look like when I'm flying anyway, if I was that worried, I'd take the kit off when I land and leave it in the aeroplane.

G