Army Helicopter Crashworthiness: Loading the Battlefield Dice in Our Favor

Since its infancy in the early 1970’s, crashworthiness design, as applied to Army helicopters, has matured to a point where tangible benefits are being realized and accepted by the Army aviation community. More than ever before, future battle doctrine demands helicopter operations in the low speed/low altitude flight mode. This results in a corresponding reduction in both the time for response and the number of options available (e.g., selection of a landing area) in case of an emergency. This situation is driving the Army to rely more than ever on passive crashworthiness measures to preserve personnel and equipment during training as well as combat. This paper presents aspects of Army helicopter crashworthiness design with emphasis on the systems approach to energy absorption. Past successes, such as the crashworthy fuel system, are reviewed and some of the more recent findings in energy absorbing seats, composite subfloors and landing gear designs are presented. Finally, a review of proposed changes to the Army crashworthy crewseat specification (MIL-S-58095) and the aircraft crashworthiness military standard (MIL-STD-1290) are discussed.