Frag Out! Magazine
Issue link: https://fragout.uberflip.com/i/840553
Some time ago, the local media announced information about the so called „helmet affair" - problems that affected users of HA-03 para- trooper helmets. At the beginning, the helmets were withdrawn from use during parachute jumps and were only allowed for ground training. Later on, the helmets were sent back to the manufacturer to remove the flaws. What Was the Whole fuss about? Well, it was the same reason that we described some time ago – the unfortu- nate safety pin that, upon request of the military, was installed on chinstrap. You do not need a genius to realize that including it into – however quite de- cent – Team Wendy chinstrap could bring no good. And it brought no good indeed... To be fair, we underestimated that metal gimmick. We bet that there would be problems with adjustment of the helmets to keep them stable on the head. The metal gizmo just changed the completely the length of the straps, their arrangement, and distribution of loads. That made it impossible to fit the hel- mets firmly on users' heads. It was possible to tighten the straps, but the only effect it caused was tightening only the upper (front) strap. The lower one, due to the change of the length and arrangement of bands, was supposed to... do nothing. Consequently, the stability of the helmet was faaaar from satisfactory, although some of the users managed to adjust it properly. Additionally, the chinstrap had one hoist point for being attached to the helmet shell – we did not consider it as a great disadvantage, since the possibility of adjusting the height of the suspension system on a fixing bolt is not quite a popular solution (generally, the whole issue is solved with clips that are used to set the length of the supporting straps). It appeared, however, that users com- plained about the lack of such a solution – it probably was caused by the unfor- tunate safety lever and the possible solution could be introduced by changing the height of the straps. www.fragoutmag.com