NTSB recommends shoulder restraints in addition to airbags for GA planes
January 20, 2011, 03:59 pm
Last week the news broke that the National Transportation Safety Board was recommending that general aviation pilots install airbags as a safety measure. However, in the same statement, the NTSB also included the much less talked about recommendation of including shoulder restraints in addition to lap seat belts.
The logic is very similar to that which the safety organization used to fuel their recommendation of airbags in private planes. The organization says that statistics show that shoulder restraints have the ability to save lives during plane accidents. According to their review of 37,000 general aviation accidents, the risk of death was increased 50 percent in accidents where passengers were only restrained with lap belts as opposed to shoulder and lap belt combinations.
As a result, the NTSB recommended that the Federal Aviation Association mandate the use of shoulder restraints in all general aviation planes where they are not currently installed. The NTSB also suggested the creation of a method of tracking the process to ensure that all planes are installing the appropriate safety devices since they are not yet required, but the FAA is the only organization with the power to actually make such recommendations mandatory.
Still it is worth pilots investing in safety precautions as well as pilot insurance, should they incur terminal injuries during a plane accident.
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