If you are flying solo in uncrowded airspace, you could legally get by with nothing more than a set of ear plugs. But to converse with passengers, monitor a radio, talk to other aircraft or air traffic control, you need headsets. There are many headsets available but only a couple we have found that work in the windy open cockpit environment of a trike. Anybody who has ever tried to talk on the phone in windy conditions knows the challenge. Lynx and MicroAvionics build headsets specifically for the open cockpit environment. None of the Bose, Lightspeed, David Clark or other high-end ANR headsets available for general aviation have worked for us out in the wind. They work great at cancelling noise inside an enclosed cockpit, but just are not designed for wind.
Helmets or not? Helmets are not a legal requirement when flying. Some people think it is crazy to fly a trike without a helmet. It would probably be safer if we always did, at least for land trikes. Just like we would also be safer if we wore helmets while driving cars. You’d probably get lots of strange looks wearing a helmet driving a car, even though it is one of the most dangerous things we do. I let people think it through and make their own decision on this important safety issue. Personally, I fly Cessna’s and drive cars without wearing a helmet. I wear helmets for serious bike rides, skateboarding a halfpipe or concrete bowl, and when snowboarding aggressively. For trike flying, I like helmets in the winter for the warmth, and dislike them in the summer, because of the warmth. I love how clear the audio is when wearing a helmet with a face shield. Some face shields on flying helmets have a neoprene flap at the bottom which seals against your neck to completely block the wind. With the microphone completely shielded, the audio is perfect, even with a less expensive headset that would not perform well in the open breeze. In the winter, that no-wind area in front of your face is great. In the Florida summer, it is a steamy swamp while taxiing on the surface.
Land vs. Water. If I was going to capsize a land trike on a runway, I would be glad if I was wearing a helmet. If I was capsizing a float trike on the water, I would NOT want a helmet. If I was getting out of a flipped over trike, the last thing I would want is an extra cable strapped to my head. Headsets slip off easily enough. Helmets should have a chin strap that stops them from sliding off easily. On water, any little drops of spray on the face shield are really annoying, possibly to the point of dangerous. Water drops on sunglasses don’t cause the same trouble. Glasses are close enough to your eyes that your eyes don’t focus on them when looking out of the aircraft. But the face shield is far enough away from your face that drops on it are hard to focus beyond. In my experience, wiping the droplets off with your hand or glove tends to just smear them around and make things worse. Glasses can quickly be pushed up or down or instinctively yanked off. The face shield takes a bit more effort–a two-step process–to unlock and raise.
So with those thoughts in mind, make your own decision.
HELMET PROS
Protect your noggin
Warm and comfortable in the winter
With face shield, audio is spectacular, even with less expensive headsets.
HELMET CONS
Hot and sweaty in the summer
Possible hindrance getting out of capsized water trike because of headset cable
Annoying/dangerous obstructed vision caused by rain droplets, fog or water spray
BEST OF BOTH WORLDS?
Here’s a way to enjoy the benefits of both approaches. MicroAvionics makes nice helmets (with and without face shields) designed to be worn over headsets. There are cutouts in the helmet for the ear cups and the headset band that goes over the top of your head. I use Lynx Micro System headsets so I have the best possible audio even out in the wind with no face shield. On the water in the summer time, that is my preference. In the winter, or when I’m going for a long high-altitude flight, I put a helmet with face shield over my Lynx headset.
FIND YOUR HELMET SIZE:
Wrap a string or ribbon around your head. Start on your forehead above your eyebrows where the brim of a hat would go. Mark where the string meets up with its starting point. Then lay that string flat against a yardstick or measuring tape. That’s your head size. Here is the size chart in centimeters:
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