12 January 2011
The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has issued a report recommending ‘the retrofitting of shoulder harnesses on all general aviation airplanes that are not currently equipped with such restraints’ as well as considering the success of airbags in GA accidents’.
Safety Study NTSB/SS-11/01, Airbag Performance in General Aviation Restraint Systems, included the findings of an exploratory case series study ‘to consider airbag performance in GA accidents. The goals of the study were (1) to examine the effectiveness of airbags in mitigating occupant injury in GA accidents, (2) to identify any unintended consequences of airbag deployments, and (3) to develop procedures to assist investigators in documenting airbag systems in future investigations.’
Among the findings of the study were –
That ‘aviation airbags can mitigate occupant injuries in severe but survivable crashes in which the principal direction of force is longitudinal’
‘The airbag systems did not cause any negative outcomes when they were adjusted correctly, and in some cases with airbag deployment, they were associated with reductions in the severity of occupant injuries’
‘Lap belt/shoulder harness combinations provide significant protection beyond a lap belt alone, and fatalities and injuries would be reduced if lap belt/shoulder harness combinations were used in all small airplanes.’
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