Most aviators feel pretty secure when ensconced in that expensive, fleece-covered, form-fitted cockpit seat, their bodies held firmly in place by a five-point harness. However, research has shown just how vulnerable the human body is to the severe trauma found in many aircraft crashes. And that susceptibility is leading toward some remarkable new restraint technology for helicopter pilots and, perhaps later, airplane pilots.
The math is ghoulishly actuarial. According to a U.S. Army study published in 1989, some 80 percent of all the Army’s helicopter crashes are survivable. Thirty percent of all fatalities occurring in those crashes were preventable. Fifty percent of those crashes involved fatal injuries to the head and neck. Therefore, a full 15 percent of all Army helo fatalities could be prevented if a suitable system for avoiding head and neck trauma could be developed.
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