You Just Never Know

I have some bad news for you... nylon stretches a lot more than you
think it will.
Think you have that shoulder belt tightened down just because you can
bearly reach the Kolsman knob on the panel? Impact at the right speed
and stop suddenly, the belt will stretch enough that your forehead will
hit the Kolsman knob.

T o d d P a t t i s t wrote:
A friend took off early one morning as I watched (pseudo Cub
homebuilt). At 200' the engine failed and he turned back.
It was that, the swamp with tree stumps or the forest. He
would have made it too, if not for the dead tree that he
clipped off (sheared trunk went vertically through the fuse
behind him and out the top) and the berm that stopped him
short. He made it out with a big gash in his forehead from
hitting the panel. Pretty difficult to put your forehead on
the panel when flying solo from the rear seat, but he
managed it. The belt attachment point failed - a tube
buckled.

Man; that's tough, Rocky. Sorry for your loss.
--
Dan
C-172RG at BFM

In article ,
jsmith wrote:
I have some bad news for you... nylon stretches a lot more than you
think it will.
Think you have that shoulder belt tightened down just because you can
bearly reach the Kolsman knob on the panel? Impact at the right speed
and stop suddenly, the belt will stretch enough that your forehead will
hit the Kolsman knob.

This is very true. I was in a car accident, and even though I was
properly belted, my chin hit the steering wheel as the belt stretched.
Fortunately my chin was just bruised, but I also sprained my ribs in
the accident, which was no fun.

As the nylon stretched, it got hot enough to melt the plastic
lettering on the college sweatshirt I was wearing at the time.

John
--
John Clear - http://www.panix.com/~jac

On 2/27/05 11:34 PM, in article
, "
wrote:

Last week a close friend and crop duster died as a result of injuries
when he experienced an engine failure after takeoff. He put it down
just fine, tore off the tailwheel and the gear stuck into the mud
causing an extreme short field stop. the gear was bent back under the
tail area, his seat belt and shoulder harness failed and he suffered
major crush injuries to his chest and abdomen. He was able to exit the
aircraft, walked around for a couple of minutes, talked to some of the
crew, said he didn't feel so good, then collapsed and died of internal
bleeding right there.
I helped him get his first ag seat about 10 years ago flying an Ag Cat
with the company I flew for. Then I helped him get his first turbine
seat some 5-6 years later. When I talked to him shortly before he died,
he told me he now had about 6,000 hours of good time logged and life
was good.
Gonna miss him and so will many who knew Big John Shanahan Ceres, CA.
RIP my brother
a saddened Ol Shy & Bashful

My condolences to you and his family.
--
Jeff 'The Wizard of Draws' Bucchino

Cartoons with a Touch of Magic�
http://www.wizardofdraws.com

More Cartoons with a Touch of Magic�
http://www.cartoonclipart.com

I've hit hard twice in accidents. once with no shoulder harness and we
both jacknifed over the seatbelts into the panel with resulting
face/head injuries. 2nd time was in a Piper Pawnee while crop spraying
and with seat belt/harness and helmet. I usually adjust the seatbelt
and harness so I have at least 4-6" from my face to the stick when I
try to bend over. even so, I had my face turned inboard when I hit the
crash rollpad with the helmet. Not enough to dent anything but it sure
stretched my neck a bit! I'm pleased to say I've since accumulated many
thousands of hours without further accidents or injuries. I hope to
continue with that record...but ya just never know.......
Rocky
aka Ol S&B

"jsmith" wrote in message
...
I have some bad news for you... nylon stretches a lot more than you think
it will.
Think you have that shoulder belt tightened down just because you can
bearly reach the Kolsman knob on the panel? Impact at the right speed and
stop suddenly, the belt will stretch enough that your forehead will hit
the Kolsman knob.

From the rear seat of a Cub?????

Dudley Henriques
International Fighter Pilots Fellowship
Commercial Pilot; CFI; Retired
dhenriquestrashatearthlinktrashdotnet
(take out the trash :-)

"John Clear" wrote

This is very true. I was in a car accident, and even though I was
properly belted, my chin hit the steering wheel as the belt stretched.
Fortunately my chin was just bruised, but I also sprained my ribs in
the accident, which was no fun.

As the nylon stretched, it got hot enough to melt the plastic
lettering on the college sweatshirt I was wearing at the time.

John

Wow! Just think how much harder the hit to your ribs would have been, if
the belt had not given up its energy over several inches by stretching, and
had held without the stretch, like a chain.
--
Jim in NC

In article , Morgans wrote:

"John Clear" wrote

This is very true. I was in a car accident, and even though I was
properly belted, my chin hit the steering wheel as the belt stretched.
Fortunately my chin was just bruised, but I also sprained my ribs in
the accident, which was no fun.

As the nylon stretched, it got hot enough to melt the plastic
lettering on the college sweatshirt I was wearing at the time.

Wow! Just think how much harder the hit to your ribs would have been, if
the belt had not given up its energy over several inches by stretching, and
had held without the stretch, like a chain.

Yeah, the belts did their job. I'll take sprained ribs over the
alternative any day. I just wish it was a five point harness,
since I think some of the injury to my ribs was caused by the
asymmetric force of the diagonal shoulder belt. My ribs popped above
my sternum on one side, and below on the other. The crash was a
head on impact, so the only side loads were caused by the diagonal
belt.

John
--
John Clear - http://www.clear-prop.org/

On Mon, 28 Feb 2005 at 08:05:37 in message
.com,
wrote:

I talked with another ag pilot friend who visited the site and he spoke
to a lot of people. The aircraft hit on mud and buried the gear which
caused it to stop in about 30' from 100mph. I have no idea what the
equipment is ultimately fail rated at but I seem to recall its 30 pos G
or more.
According to my quick sum that is about an 11g average over 30 ft.
--
David CL Francis

On Thu, 03 Mar 2005 19:01:50 GMT, David CL Francis
wrote in
::

According to my quick sum that is about an 11g average over 30 ft.

I recall a rule of thumb, that the human body is able to withstand ~20
Gs.