Sky Diving Helmets and DOT

[hjumper33 0]

I have a scooter and when I moved from a non helmet law to a helmet law state, I just started wearing my mind warp. People dont really give it a second look, but a few ask me what the L bracket on the side is for

[fundgh 0]

It seems to me that you, and many in the sport of skydiving as well as 2-wheeling, don't actually believe in wearing helmets. People are wearing them because they are required by law or social standard. To actually care about the protection it offers means to wear the most protective and functional helmet available for that activity. This is coming from a person that has a helmet for ALL activities (including but not limited to bicycle, mtn bike, ski, surf, off road motorcycle, on road motorcycle, skateboard, skydiving). I agree with the idea that skydivers (for the most part) are looking for a camera mount, audible mount, wind protection, and something to put on so noboby bitches at them for not wearing a helmet. Which really is OK, because the accidents that typically kill skydivers, would still kill them if they had the best helmet in the world on; but the death (internal bleeding, brain swell, etc) or extreme paralysis might be prolonged. I wear a skiing helmet for skydiving because there is actual protection built into it that would help in exit or landing mishaps moreso than your typical Freefly helmet.

The Snell rating is also a point of contention among the motorcycle community, as the snell rating requires multiple impacts that some find causes the helmet to be too protective in a low speed single impact incident; but is better suited for high speed riding/racing.

Scooter/Harley/Sportbike-it doesn't matter what you ride the impact will be the same if you t-bone someone that turns left in front of you. Why base your level of protection on the type of bike you ride?

Long live the frap hat! (I think they should bring leather helmets back to Football too!)

...FUN FOR ALL!

[ltdiver 3]

I think this video says it nicely.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmc3NrnHWDM&mode=related&search=

ltdiver

Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon

[SkymonkeyONE 3]

I routinely wear my old factory diver when I ride my Buell. That or my Gentex. On my Road Glide I don't generally wear anything (since I don't have to here in FL), but if it's cold I wear my Gentex with my face shield down.

Chuck

[bmcd308 0]

Derek -

Just to make things even more difficult, I suppose you are aware that there is what appears to be legitimate debate in the motorcycling community as to whether a helmet that meets the SNELL tests actually makes you less safe than one that only meets the DOT standard, because the SNELL test requires much harder interior padding to survive the two big hits in the test, while DOT helmets generally have softer padding that provides better protection from somewhat softer impacts - the kind some argue that motorcyclists face most often.

The point of all this is that if you tell a helmet designer what kind of impact you will have, he'll probably be able to design a helmet to protect you from it. Whether it will also be suitable for some other type of impact or acceptable in terms of weight or appearance are other matters entirely.

Brent

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www.jumpelvis.com

[Hooknswoop 19]

Quote

Derek -

Just to make things even more difficult, I suppose you are aware that there is what appears to be legitimate debate in the motorcycling community as to whether a helmet that meets the SNELL tests actually makes you less safe than one that only meets the DOT standard, because the SNELL test requires much harder interior padding to survive the two big hits in the test, while DOT helmets generally have softer padding that provides better protection from somewhat softer impacts - the kind some argue that motorcyclists face most often.

The point of all this is that if you tell a helmet designer what kind of impact you will have, he'll probably be able to design a helmet to protect you from it. Whether it will also be suitable for some other type of impact or acceptable in terms of weight or appearance are other matters entirely.

Brent

Ya, I think it depends on what type of riding you do for what type of helmet you want. The same issue can be applied to skydiving helmets. How do you make a standard? What type of impacts do you want to optimize the helmet for? Huge can of worms that, like you mentioned, the motorcycle world is still struggling with.

Derek

[reinhart36 0]

This may be a big "no-$hit", but since nobody else said it, I'll mention it:

In any impact there's a change in velocity (of your head) in some given time interval. The average acceleration experienced by your head is simply dV/dt.

The thickness and stiffness of the padding in your helmet will effect the dt (time interval).

Car chasis are designed to crunch in a crash, so that the time interval is extended, which reduces the average acceleration (decceleration) felt by the passengers.

Point is, if I had the choice between two helmets with the same type of padding material, with one being thicker than the other, I'd choose the thicker padding. Just having a hard shell around your head with minimal padding will only help you with abrasions and small bumps.

Twice the padding would result (very approximately) in a little more than half of the acceleration felt by your head.

This is a simplified explanation, but worth mentioning, I believe.

ER

PS - I'm in the market for a helmet..... Any recommendations?

[squarecanopy 0]

I have a Z1 open face and just recently switched to a Bonehead Mamba. That helmet is the bomb. Carbon fiber(very strong for the weight) very light weight, comfy, quiet both in the tunnel and skydiving, great visibility, full face protection. I love it!
I don't have alot of skydiviing experience but raced motorcycles for many years, have many many hours with my head in a lid, both open face and full face, so I do have alot of experience with all the various aspects of what goes into a "good" helmet.

Just burning a hole in the sky.....