The Case for Safer Seats

More survivors might have walked away from the latest DC-10 disasters had they been sitting in safer seats required by the Federal Aviation Administration in all new aircraft. About half of all passenger injuries in survivable accidents result from the seat either slamming down on its occupant or breaking loose. The new seat can tolerate velocity changes of up to 16Gs, or a force of 16 times the occupant's body weight, an improvement from the current level of 9Gs. The agency will soon propose that older planes be refitted with these new seats by 1995.

No matter how safe the seat, it cannot help a youngster sitting on an adult's lap. "A small child sitting unrestrained on a plane becomes a little missile when the aircraft hits severe turbulence," observes Northwest Airlines spokesman Bob Gibbons. Turbulence of the kind that recently jolted a Miami-bound American Airlines jet and injured 45 people poses more of a hazard to the average traveler than does the possibility of a crash.

Since 1982, the FAA has allowed passengers with children to bring their own federally approved infant car seats onto planes, but it rejected a consumer request that safety seats be required. Airlines discourage children's seats by failing to tell parents that they are allowed. Many families would probably pass them up anyway, since guaranteeing another seat would mean buying another ticket.