How long are helmets good for?

[insanebikerboy]

Airwarriors,

Does anyone know how long a HGU-68 (current Jet/E2 helmet) is good for, and is it based off of it's date of manufacture, date in service, etc.. Being styrofoam, they do eventually break down.

I'm just curious if they PRs overlooked that when I checked in, because I've had this helmet since 2001, and it was used when I got it.

Curious, did you have the -68 in helos, and if so why?

I had CEPs when I checked into Kingsville, they yanked it out saying "students don't rate these" and never put them back in.

I would've gone ballistic on the guys in the pr shop on that one. I can't think of a bigger line of crap, especially for a fleet returnee.

 

[MasterBates]

I went to 11 on them.. But they are contractors, and their contract doesn't have them furnish CEPs to non-staff.

 

[FlyingOnFumes]

I had CEPs when I checked into Kingsville, they yanked it out saying "students don't rate these" and never put them back in.

RAG don't have the money for them, so I spend a lot of my time going "what the hell did approach just say??".

I liked having them. I'm deaf enough that I cannot wear earplugs and actually hear the radios. So I go earplugless.

I like CEPs and want them back.

If you got the dough, you can buy your own Gentex CEP kit from their sole non-military distributor Gibson & Barnes in El Cajon, CA:

www.flightsuits.com/index.php?id=18&cat_id=54&prod_id=90

They appear to run between $134 to $158...

and install them yourself.

Do it yourself instructions are here: www.wbreeze.com/TechTips/cepKitHelmet/index.html

Curious, did you have the -68 in helos, and if so why?

Probably from primary?

 

[UMichfly]

I had CEPs when I checked into Kingsville, they yanked it out saying "students don't rate these" and never put them back in.

I find this hilarious because in the PR shop here, they push CEPs like nobody's business. It's their automatic solution to the shittiness of the Goshawk radios. Are they at least making replacement tips available to people who check into the RAG with their CEPs from Meridian?

 

[lowflier03]

CEP's are great! I got them when I checked into my fleet squadron and have loved them ever since. Though for the helo helmets they are soldered in and thus become permanent. Something that pissed me off after the mishap and I was told that I could never wear my helmet again and since the CEP's were soldered I lost those as well. However our PR hooked me up with a Hush Kit and those are great as well. Unfortunately the Hush Kit isn't compatible with CEP's.

Also I had a set of the Custom Molded CEP's made. Those are worth every penny. Very comfortable compared to trying to find foam tips that fit correctly. I think most bases have at least 1 ear doc who can mold them for you. If the command won't pay for them then I would recommend shelling out the $135 (or whatever it was) to get them yourself.

 

[Lawman]

Also I had a set of the Custom Molded CEP's made. Those are worth every penny. Very comfortable compared to trying to find foam tips that fit correctly. I think most bases have at least 1 ear doc who can mold them for you. If the command won't pay for them then I would recommend shelling out the $135 (or whatever it was) to get them yourself.

This is my problem. They wont make the custom ones here because neither big Army nor the Contractors are willing to pay for them. Right now its no big deal because Ive only got 3 radios to listen to and can still hear decent with the foamys in. Ill probably shell out the cash though if whatever unit I get to wont comp me for them.

 

[insanebikerboy]

Probably from primary?

Well, it's a completely different helmet is why I asked. Either way, stranger stuff has happened. I had a custom made helmet in primary (yes, my head is that big) and they made it out of a helo shell. Lots of instructors were jealous of the dual visors.

 

[FlyingOnFumes]

...they made it out of a helo shell. Lots of instructors were jealous of the dual visors.

It was probably, therefore, heavier as well. Both Gentex and G&B have told me in the past to only go for a HGU-84/P (the helo one vs. the -55/P or -68/P fixed wing) if you need the extra side impact protection required in helos... something about TACAIR guys revolting if they put any more weight on their helmets while pulling G...

 

[tk628]

Here at Meridian, CEP's are highly rec in the SOP or stan notes. No issue for studs to get it put in as the I think those in charge are trying to save the VA money in the long run. Getting visors cut for the MBU-23 on the other hand... that's still a challenge... maybe because it's worse than the mask it replaced.

 

[tk628]

CEP's are great! I got them when I checked into my fleet squadron and have loved them ever since. Though for the helo helmets they are soldered in and thus become permanent. Something that pissed me off after the mishap and I was told that I could never wear my helmet again and since the CEP's were soldered I lost those as well. However our PR hooked me up with a Hush Kit and those are great as well. Unfortunately the Hush Kit isn't compatible with CEP's.

Also I had a set of the Custom Molded CEP's made. Those are worth every penny. Very comfortable compared to trying to find foam tips that fit correctly. I think most bases have at least 1 ear doc who can mold them for you. If the command won't pay for them then I would recommend shelling out the $135 (or whatever it was) to get them yourself.

You should be able to use the CEP kit with a hush kit even if they are soldered in, I have a helmet I wore while dusting/banner towing that used the triangle hush and a hard wired CEP kit. It was amazing. Also what do you mean custom molded CEP how did you get it to work with the CEP piece that the sound would come out of? was there some sort of adapter?

 

[FlyingOnFumes]

Has anyone tried Gentex's ANR earphones for their helmets? Are they issued to anyone in the fleet or is it still a future "wishlist" item?

www.gentexcorp.com/default.aspx?pageid=2309 lists it as an orderable item.

I'd seen a PDF installation manual for them, but can't seem to find it anymore.

 

[tk628]

Has anyone tried Gentex's ANR earphones for their helmets? Are they issued to anyone in the fleet or is it still a future "wishlist" item?

www.gentexcorp.com/default.aspx?pageid=2309 lists it as an orderable item.

I'd seen a PDF installation manual for them, but can't seem to find it anymore.

If this is the same kit flightsuits.com out in CA is selling than yes, I've flown probably 20 hours on it in a loaner helmet. CEP and a hush kit/softseals from OA are the way to go. The ANR eats 9V batteries like bite sized appetizers, leaving you only wishing for your CEP 8-10 hours later. If we could get lightspeed aviation to design an ANR kit for helmets.. that would be progress, but a bunch of $$ too. I'm really interested in this custom molded CEP's though

 

[FlyingOnFumes]

If this is the same kit flightsuits.com out in CA is selling than yes, I've flown probably 20 hours on it in a loaner helmet. CEP and a hush kit/softseals from OA are the way to go. The ANR eats 9V batteries like bite sized appetizers, leaving you only wishing for your CEP 8-10 hours later. If we could get lightspeed aviation to design an ANR kit for helmets.. that would be progress, but a bunch of $$ too. I'm really interested in this custom molded CEP's though

The ones sold by Gibson & Barnes (www.flightsuits.com) are not the Gentex ones (G&B is infamous for replacing some of the Gentex items with 3rd party stuff when it comes to the earphones, visor covers, etc..) ...

G&B sells OEM versions of the ones made by Headsets, Inc. (www.headsetsinc.com). The ones that Gentex supposedly sells to the military are actually manufactured by Racal Acoustics (www.racalacoustics.com) (only reason I know this is i had spoken to guys at Gentex and Racal about this ~3 years ago)... but I don't see any reference to them on the website anymore. The one made by Racal for Gentex are not battery powered, but depend on aircraft power and are higher voltage that would preclude the use of 9V or AA batteries.

The ideal solution, in my opinion, is one that runs off of 2 AA batteries (like Bose Aviation Headset X or David-Clark X11) since you can use 8-15 min. rechargeable NiMH batteries without any problem and only carry alkaline as a backup. I'm hoping the G&B and Gentex considers it.

 

[lowflier03]

You should be able to use the CEP kit with a hush kit even if they are soldered in, I have a helmet I wore while dusting/banner towing that used the triangle hush and a hard wired CEP kit. It was amazing. Also what do you mean custom molded CEP how did you get it to work with the CEP piece that the sound would come out of? was there some sort of adapter?

If you have ever had custom molded ear plugs for shooting, the CEP's are the same process. They inject some expanding foam type crap into your ear and when it dries they pull it out. These "molds" are then sent in and your actual rubber CEP tips are made based on these. They have a hollow sound channel going through and screw onto the speakers just like the foam CEP tips that they replace.

 

[Gatordev]

Has anyone tried Gentex's ANR earphones for their helmets? Are they issued to anyone in the fleet or is it still a future "wishlist" item?

www.gentexcorp.com/default.aspx?pageid=2309 lists it as an orderable item.

I'd seen a PDF installation manual for them, but can't seem to find it anymore.

I'm pretty sure those still aren't authorized. Historically, ANR stuff doesn't survive very long at the boat due to the guts getting fried w/ all the 'trons floating around.