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Val Gardena Men's Downhill today
 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead

Congratulations to Norway's Aksel Lund Svindal on winning today's downhill on the Sasslong course. He (and the rest of the Norwegian Team) are having a great start to their season! Smile

It's also noteworthy that Austrian skier Matthias Mayer had a bad crash and was helicoptered off to hospital. Sad However it seems that his injuries could have been a lot worse but for the fact that he was wearing the new Dainese made airbag system which inflated whilst he was still in the air before he crashed - the first time an air bag was inflated during a World Cup race.
Quote:
International Ski Federation technical expert Gunter Hujara said that the device may have saved Mayer from serious injury.
"A crash can never be something favourable," Hujara said. "(But) maybe we have seen here he was saved from a spine injury today."

It was difficult to notice the air bag inflating because the vest-like device is worn under skier's suits.

Austrian winter sports federation director Hans Pum reported that Mayer had only a big bruise. "It proved the air bag has an important place in speed skiing," Pum said.

In the light of the above I wouldn't be surprised if we see more of the DH racers adopting the new airbag system. Madeye-Smiley
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person

Here's the video of Matthias Mayer's crash:


http://youtube.com/v/CM6vbfCy7GU
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Interesting! How does the airbag know he's going to crash?
My car has an automatic roll-bar that pops up automatically if all 4 wheels leave the ground - but it would be a bit inconvenient if U went all Michelin Man every time U took a jump Confused
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admin wrote:
Interesting! How does the airbag know he's going to crash?
My car has an automatic roll-bar that pops up automatically if all 4 wheels leave the ground - but it would be a bit inconvenient if U went all Michelin Man every time U took a jump Confused


I believe that the system has a number of sensors built in that measure parameters like accelerations, orientation of the skier etc and in accordance with predetermined algorithms will decide whether the skier is going to crash, and if so deploys the airbag in about 0.1 seconds. Some info here and here. Madeye-Smiley

Quote
"The D-air Ski has 3 gyroscopes, 3 accelerometers and a GPS unit. A replaceable cold-gas canister provides near instant inflation. A rechargeable lithium-ion battery powers the system. Except for the airbag itself it's all tucked into a hardened pocket on the back protector. There's even a USB port to download run data. Dainese spent two years collecting data from test runs, using skiers from the Canadian and Italian national teams. That data let Dainese's engineers code an algorithm that can tell, based on a racer's acceleration and body position whether he's about to crash or just at the bottom of a post-jump compression. The algorithm is smart enough that it won't inflate even in some crash situations, such as when a skier loses an edge and slides to a stop. "But if he starts to tumble" says Dainese Manager Giovanni Fogal, "the suit inflates". "

Madeye-Smiley
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

An update for you on Matthias Mayer:

He was operated on during the night to stabilise fractures to the thoracic vertebrae. The fracture to the 7th was particularly unstable hence the need for an operation during the night. He is out for the season now. The section from the 5th to the 8th vertebrae was stabilised using a plate and screws and Mayer has to remain for 10 days in the hospital in Bozen then he'll return home to Kärnten.

The airbag actually worked and most likely prevented a far more serious injury. Mayer has actually been one of the racers testing the various air bag back protector designs over the past couple of seasons. Hans Pum, the director of skiing for the ÖSV is convinced that the system saved Mayer's life.
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Looking at the accident his helmet certainly saved his life.
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

That type of airbag system has been employed in moto-gp \ motorcycle racing for a few years now and appears quite well proven. The research for it probably dates back to an accident that resulted in the parallasis of Wayne Rayney in which he slid into a trackside gravel trap (at the time I think the gravel was furrowed as in a ploughed field to make a best form of arrest to machine and rider to try and stop both reaching a more unyielding barrier) and what should have been a fairly benign accident brought up a particular quirk \ vulnerability around the helmet in effect getting arrested buy the gravel and then the body continuing to rotate over it and raising the risk of damage to the lower number vertibra. The airbag system is trying to best support that area through a "ragdoll " type crash.
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!

If you Google "Marc marquez mugello crash " you'll find some interesting stuff on what these systems can do and the data recorded to go with it, in this case the kit was alpinestars I believe. He actually got off the bike at 209.9mph!!!
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