Many helicopter pilots involved in certain types of work (corporate, passenger shuttle, and some offshore-oil) do not wear helmets. Theoretically they are avoiding many of the higher risk elements of "bush/low level" or "height-velocity curve" operations that helicopters are often involved in.
Note that many offshore oil rig passengers wear Survival Suits, but not helmets. I guess it depends on the risks involved with the operation. What do you guys in Halifax/St Johns wear ???
I wore my helmet at the Bell Training Academy in Fort Worth, Texas. That got alot of stares........yet all the instructors wore flame-retardent Nomex flightsuits.
Frankly, if I need to be protected from flame, I think I would like a helmet on at that time too !!!
I really got a feeling that some guys like a flight-suit, (flame-proof or not, and the more zippers the better!!), but didn't like being a sissy by wearing a CRASH helmet. Very strange reasoning!!
Alot of this is image and perceptions........there were very few pilots wearing helmets 15 years ago, and huge debates about it by 10 years ago. Some companies forbade them!! Now, some companies insist on them !! Some passengers, i.e. Rappel spotters and paramedics, now wear them too.
Here's something to discuss......if you have an accident at fixed-wing speeds, will a helmet help you ?? Does an F18 pilot wear a helmet because he might crash doing 600 knots, or because he needs it during his hoped for 'ejection', just before the now pilot-less craft augers into the planet at 600 knots??
Do we wear them in helicopters because there is more chance we may need them than in fixed-wing ops, or is it just that it may provide the valuable difference in protection that might be wasted at high fixed-wing speeds?? On this note, I can see why pilots flying low/slow fixed-wing ops like wildlife patrols wear a helmet.
I also wear a helmet because of it's superior sound protection and greater comfort than a headset, and because I keep banging my big head everytime I go out into, or back in from the long-line bubble !!
A few years ago I had to ride for several hours in the back of a very noisy Twin Otter to an Arctic drill camp for a crew change. Just as the pilot taxied onto the runway for take-off, he turned around to check for cabin security......he did a double-take then just grinned when he saw me wearing my helmet !!!
I would love to put it on while riding as a passenger on Westjet !!