New Planes Lift Safety Feature from Cars

Tighter Standards Focus on Increasing Odds of Surviving Crash; Include Stronger Seats, Air Bags

(CBS)  The difference between cars and airplanes is getting a little smaller. No, there hasn't been a revolutionary breakthrough in flying automobiles. It's the other way around.

Air safety regulators, in a bid to increase the odds of surviving a plane crash, are mandating new measures this fall that include the placement of air bags in some seats, according to a New York Times report Tuesday.

But the main safety feature on all planes built after Oct. 27 will be almost imperceptible - stronger seats capable of withstanding 16 times the force of gravity, making them less likely to rip loose during a crash.

The sturdier seats and airbags give passengers in a survivable crash - like a plane rolling off the runway - a chance to avoid initial serious injury, remain conscious and escape a post-crash fire.

The measures would do nothing in cases of mid-air breakups, like the Air France flight that crashed in the Atlantic Ocean off the Brazilian coast.

Previously, seats were engineered to withstand 9 times the force of gravity. But in 1988, the report notes, manufacturers began using the "16g" seats on all new models. The October deadline will extend that mandate to all models preceding the 1988 change. Boeings 737s, for example, have had the 16g seats for years. The new 747 model, which had previously had the 9g seats, will switch to the new standard.

The rules will only apply to newly built planes, not to existing ones, according to the report.

The air bags borrow technology from cars and will deploy from the seat belts. They're activated by sensors attuned to shocks on the axis the plane is traveling, but aren't affected by normal turbulence. They're widely used in first- or business-class cabins due to the wide spaces between seats. They are also in place on certain coach seats - like front row, exit row and bulkhead seats. Other seats in coach are spaced close enough that the back of a seat can provide a cushion for the passenger behind it.

[LEHS]

Ya, they only stealing they will doing when they put my 'flotation-capable airbages in aircraft seats' is both Patent Infringement and Copyright Infringement. The fact is at Lateral Ejection Helicopter Seats, our aircraft seats and accessories cost money. Industrial espionage is also a Capital offense CBS.

[ibsteve2u]

When I was flitting from place to place in lovely S/E Asia way back when, on those rare occasions where I rode the comfy seats of a C-141 instead of the web seats of a C-130 I observed that the Air Force had the seats mounted backwards when compared to Flying Tigers or the other civilian/quasi-civilian aircraft.

Eminently sensible, I thought...most landings - controlled, or otherwise - are nose first, and facing away from the point of impact keeps your body from whiplashing forward due to inertia.

On a trip back, I queried the civilian pilot as to why that wasn't common practice in civilian aircraft...to be told that "the passengers like to see where they are going".

Good thing I was sitting in first class because of Pan-Am's courtesy to active duty soldiers - because when I doubled up laughing, I spilled my (courtesy) drink right where the center-seat passenger would have been in coach.

[geminispyder-2009]

"Air safety regulators, in a bid to increase the odds of surviving a plane crash, are mandating new measures this fall that include the placement of air bags in some seats"

It's a nice idea. However, air bags would be more practical on a car than an airplane because a car doesn't typically hit the ground or a wall at 300 MPH.

[zonkzilla]

When is the last time you saw a car fall apart in a storm?
No thanks, I'm not flying on any of those Euro death traps.
Two in a month shows there is a serious problem.

[mitdgreenb]

Need to limit number of air bags on an aircraft. The contents of the deployed bag are pretty noxious. That's not a big deal in a car, with a few bags and the windows blown out by a crash. But in a plane, the airtight fuselage full of airbag gases would be a gas chamber. A few... say to make sure people in exit rows can open the exit doors... is a good idea.