Why do modern day fighter pilots wear hard helmets?
- Thread starter dizietsma
- Start date
To my understanding (I could be wrong), it's not for protection. Modern fighter planes do not have pressurized cabin like a modern passenger jet, so the helmet is actually connected to a oxygen supply system to keep the pilot from fainting. Many fighter jets supply pure oxygen to assist the pilots sustain very high G maneuver better.
I don't think the canopy is within reach with their head, assuming they're properly strapped in (and I would assume that to be the case if they're flying a fighter jet... 
), but getting knocked out from slamming into the headrest would seem a very definite possibility if not wearing a helmet...
), but getting knocked out from slamming into the headrest would seem a very definite possibility if not wearing a helmet...It is when they eject. Didn't you watch Top Gun? Poor Goose...I don't think the canopy is within reach with their head, assuming they're properly strapped in (and I would assume that to be the case if they're flying a fighter jet...
LMAO!
WhiningKhan
Regular
That's not a modern day fighter pilot with his helmet, that's a 1970's one.
Take a look at F35 helmet and ask again:
http://www.dailytech.com/Fixes+for+Problem+Plagued+F35+Helmet+in+the+Works/article21023.htm
That's modern day for you - fancy, badass looking and they'll probably never get it working completely. Just like smartphones.
Take a look at F35 helmet and ask again:
http://www.dailytech.com/Fixes+for+Problem+Plagued+F35+Helmet+in+the+Works/article21023.htm
That's modern day for you - fancy, badass looking and they'll probably never get it working completely. Just like smartphones.
Don't the pressurised fighter pilot helmets/suits actually push oxygen into the lungs during high-G manoeuvres, effectively breathing artificially for the pilots? I vaguely remember watching some TV science programme about this and the presenter found it a very unusual sensation. Understandably so, I'd have thought.
Silent_Buddha
Legend
It does that and more. The suit actually acts to somewhat counteract the G-forces pushing blood into your feet or your head depending on whether you are experiencing positive or negative G-forces through pressure applied to the body.
Regards,
SB
tongue_of_colicab
Veteran
What do you mean by pushing oxygen into the lungs? You mean the suit compressing and pushing blood upwards? because it does that but I'm not sure if you could actually force oxygen into the pilots lungs using his throat/nose. Seems to me if you are doing some high G turns and have a couple of hundred of kilo's pressing on you chest and you try to pump air into the lungs that they could burst?
A quick google found the following information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G-suit
I think that the bit I remember from the TV show was the partial-pressure breathing which automatically reinflates the lungs to some extent. The pilot has to actively expel the air from his lungs more than would the case when breathing normally.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G-suit
I think that the bit I remember from the TV show was the partial-pressure breathing which automatically reinflates the lungs to some extent. The pilot has to actively expel the air from his lungs more than would the case when breathing normally.
At the end of the day, the squishy human center is still the weak point of that plane. At least in terms of how many G's they can pull on a turn. In this article the manufacturer actually claims that rather than turn and face an enemy when they fire missiles at them, they just let the missiles do a 180 which I'm kinda skeptical about since I'm pretty sure the rockets only fire for a few seconds. It basically looks like we're already at the point where the human brain is not necessary in these jets.
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