Helmets - Should you? and Which?

[2beers]

Reflections in helmet-visor when wearing glasses

Hi all!
When wearing my new Alpha-helmet I can see the reflection of my glasses in my visor. That's not very nice and I wonder if any of you guys have had the same problem and how you solved it? Or will I get used to it after awhile?
Cheers!
/2beers

[800]

Question:

Do you have a dual visor or just a single clear one?

[2beers]

A: Dual, but the reflection is there on both. The tinted visor is the one that I would prefer to use instead of having two pairs of glasses and changing mid-flight if the sun goes down. Since I'll have to wear helmet, it would be nice to be able to use the visors since they're there anyway.
Cheers!
/2beers

[Aesir]

I fly with Alpha (B-212) and I have newer noticed a reflection off my sunglasses! Is the reflection off of the frame of your glasses or the glass itself?

If it´s the frame, then your gonna have to replace it with black.

I also fly my JetRanger with CGF Gallet helmet and the visor is very tight/snug on it so there is no light than comes in from behind the visor on it.


Pic is in B-222

[Rotortiger]

Have you tried contacts? the latest ones are very good and can be worn for extended periods. I switched to them a year ago and haven't looked back! (except to check my 6 o-clock!). I didn't have any problem with glasses reflecting in the visor of my Alpha helmet but didn' t like peering through two layers of glass/perspex and found the glasses uncomfortable under the ear pieces.

[Gaseous]

Yep, I noticed it too. After a while it stopped being an issue. I use prescription glasses. If you can use the tinted visor on your Alpha, do it. Sunglasses - and I've tried lots- just don't compete when flying into the sun. There must be something very special about the Alpha tinted visor. Brilliant.

The bigest problem with specs is it spoils the seal on the ear cups.

[John Eacott]

2beers,

My prescription RayBans occasionally reflect in the Alpha visor, but it's one of those things to get used to. Most of the time I'm looking/focussing well outside the cockpit, and the reflection is not an issue: only when I glance in the cockpit does the reflection come into focal range and become noticeable.

Re the ear seal concern, David Clark have a product called Stop-Gap, which fit on the spectacle arms and seal the gap in the headset. Aviall stock them, and any David Clark outlet should get them for you.

[Gaseous]

"David Clark have a product called Stop-Gap"

Thanks, John. I'll give them a try

[Hughes500]

Still have me HM issued glasses ( corrective ) with the black frames from 20 years ago, never had a problem with my Alpha. Is it due to the black frames ?

[Bravo73]

Gaseous,

Transair stock Stop Gaps

here


HTH,
B73

[Gaseous]

Thanks Bravo. I have some ordered. I'll let you know how they work when they come. While we are on the subject of Alphas, I put the guts of my pilot ANRs in the Alpha earcups which is great, but my gel seals are too fat (maybe its my head) to fit in. Does anyone know of slim gel seals to replace the Alpha foam ones?

[The Nr Fairy]

Stop Gaps - simple, effective. I'd still like an ANR headset with an impedance matcher built in to the comms lead. Ah well, maybe later this year . . .

[Vertolot]

Which is a better helmet, the Alpha or the Gallet (LH 250)?? Any comments on ANR and dual impedance??

[John Eacott]

We have ANR built in to our Alpha's: they're good with the door on, but door off fire ops there just isn't the driving power to overcome the wind noise. Better with the ANR off

The gel seals for the ANR are fatter than the standard, so the helmet becomes quite a tight fit, and there seems to be a mismatch in volume between the two earpieces, which the service guys can't fix; otherwise, it's worth having ANR in any headset or helmet

[Teefor Gage]

Helmets and Helicopter Pilots

Just found this news article and thought some of you might be interested as there have been threads about the benefits of helmets, NVGs etc

---------------------------------------------
Heavy helmets grounding chopper pilots

A researcher in Fredericton is trying to help find a way to prevent neck
injuries for military helicopter pilots.

Some pilots end up being grounded by neck injuries caused by the weight of
their helmets.

University of New Brunswick graduate student Michael Harrison has joined
forces with the Canadian military to look for ways to lighten the load.

"When you put a set of night-vision goggles on a helmet, the weight adds up
to about 3½ kilos. To put it in a household perspective, four litres of
milk. If you buy a bag of milk at the grocery store and put it on your head
and drive home wearing that, you'll get a rough idea of what a helicopter
pilot might feel like."

Harrison and other researchers are working with 31 pilots at CFB Gagetown,
which is the home of the Canadian military's only full-motion flight
simulator for the CH-146 Griffon helicopter.

Link to news report

[Bertie Thruster]

Perhaps "some pilots" should try the gym?

[airborne_artist]

Perhaps "some pilots" should try the gym?

Not many routines in the gym that will solve this increasing problem. It's not just the pilots either - possibly more of a problem for the loady who does not have the benefit of being strapped into a seat.

[Flying Bull]

Hello Bertie, you haven't flown with NVG jet, have you? Additonal to the weight on your head, you have a limited eyesight (about 50 degrees, depending on the NVG's used), what means, that you have to swivel your head to look in different areas - instead of just using you eyes. And to make things even harder, todays NVG focus at abou 1,5 meters up to endless - so when you want to take a glance at the instruments, your head goes up and you start glancing underneath the NVG to the instrument panel. Add to that the normal vibrations of a helicopter and Problems with the neck can be anticipated. Out of 14 Pilots in our Squadron 10 are rated for NVG-operations. One of them has problems from time to time - so that he has to take time off, another one is grounded by now, thinking about surgery but with a high risk of being paralized after that, not really a nice choice. That makes 20% of pilots with problems, due to NVG-flying - and with time to go, more will follow, I'm quite sure about that. Flying Bull

[papa68]

G'day all,

Certainly from personal experience, flying with goggles et al is extremely tiring given the weight of the helmet, googles, weight pack, lip light battery pack etc etc. As was mentioned, if it were simply a case of bearing this weight and flying around as you normally would by day, it would be hard work but when you consider the limited FOV, a fair amount of head movement is required by all the crew to cover their arcs of responsibility. This can be further increased depending on ambient light levels, if you're conducting formation work etc etc.

It all adds up and I'm not surprised there have been reported cases of neck strain and so on. However, I am surprised at the severity of the problem as reported by the initial article and our German contributor. I would be very interested to find out the rate of (and total amount of) goggle flying required to bring on these kinds of injuries.

Cheers,

P68

[airborne_artist]

And what happens in the event of a hard landing? The increased force on the neck/back must cause some major problems?