The Adaptation of Crashworthy Helicopter Seating Technology for Use in Ground Vehicles

Crashworthy seating for rotorcraft has been in service since the 1970s and has, without question, saved the lives of many aircrew and prevented many serious injuries. The primary functions of a crashworthy seat in a rotorcraft crash event are to retain the occupant securely in the seat to minimize contact with the aircraft interior, limit the accelerations experienced by the occupant, and allow for post-event egress. All of these functions translate directly to ground-vehicle mine-blast-protective (MBP) seats and, as a result, the prior work done on survivability for rotorcraft has significantly aided the development of effective MBP seats. With the recent efforts that have been applied toward MBP seating advancements and the advancements in understanding occupant injuries, it is expected that the rotorcraft survivability community can now make use of this new knowledge and apply it toward more-survivable seating designs.