Ryan Young wrote:

The purpose of such a helmet IS a bit debatable. The guy who flipped
his Bearcat a few years back was probably wearing one; the impact
broke his neck. Mr Brock might have survived his crash at Rosamond had
he been wearing one (his wife did), but who wants to, in a pleasure
flight with a passenger.

If you're wearing a shoulder harness in a plane with decent interior
design, and good rollover protection, OK fine, you don't need one.

If you've grown up wearing one, so to speak, then there's really no down
side to a helmet. I flew with a helmet for thousands of hours, and now
wear one every other day while ski patrolling. It's just what I wear.
Keeps the noggin warm, gives me a place to hang the radio stuff on, and
a place to hang the goggles/visor. Might even protect me in an accident.

I remember watching a guy preflight his A-4 without a helmet, and there
was an arming switch below the practice bomb pointing straight down
towards his head as he kicked the left mainmount. I thought, man, it
would hurt if he stood straight up right now...probably drive that thing
through his skull even.

Well, he stood straight up, and while not penetrating his skull, it did
uncage his eyeballs. He found god and evented new profanity simultaneously.