ntsb recommends shoulder belts for small planes

WASHINGTON -U. S.
Government safety officials on Tuesday urged owners to change small planes with shoulders
Seat belts but no airbags are required. A three-
The annual study of small aircraft accidents released by the National Transportation Safety Commission found that airbags can prevent serious injuries or deaths.
But because only about 7,000 aircraft have airbags, there are not enough accidents to determine whether they should be required on all aircraft, investigators said.
Although car airbags have been authorized for more than a decade, there is no such requirement in the aviation industry for small aircraft.
\"The good news is that more than 30 manufacturers have stepped up production and provided airbags as standard or optional equipment,\" said Deborah Hersman, president of NTSB . \".
Trend News Google cloud is down and missing. the Virginia Beach shooting protesters in Connecticut interrupted Harris, one reason the board is interested in studying the benefits of general aviation aircraft airbags is that the accident rate of general aviation aircraft is more than five times larger than that of small commuter airlines or air taxis, Hersman said.
There are more than 200,000 general aviation aircraft, mostly small, single
The engine plane, NTSB officials said.
The average age of the plane is about 40. years-
Old, officials say.
The second study released by NTSB on Tuesday concluded that the likelihood of death and serious injuries increased by 50% in accidents involving pilots and passengers wearing their knees
Belt only, not shoulderlap belts.
The study surveyed 37,000 cases involving a single
Engine aircraft between 1983 and 2008.
The Commission estimates that between 13% and 26% of small aircraft do not have shoulder straps.
Officials say the cost of increasing the straps ranges from about $150 to $300 per seat.
For the first time in 1977, NTSB suggested converting the old aircraft into shoulder straps.
Federal Aviation Administration officials said that since 1986, all seats on the newly manufactured aircraft need seat belts, but no modification of the old aircraft is required.
The board can only make non-binding proposals.
In 2003, the FAA first approved the use of airbags on small aircraft.
Some aircraft manufacturers, including Cessna and Cirrus, have volunteered to use them as standard equipment on new aircraft since 2005.
AmSafe Inc.
Phoenix, the only United StatesS.
Aircraft airbag manufacturers have recorded 20 cases in the past few years, in which airbags are critical to the survival of general aviation pilots and passengers, AmSafe manager Joseph Smith, said in an interview.
A total of 474 general aviation accidents killed 1,474 people in 2009, the latest year for NTSB.
Although the accident rate of commercial airlines has dropped significantly in the past decade, the general aviation rate for the same period has remained basically unchanged.
Unlike the car airbag, The AmSafe airbag is integrated in the shoulder seat belt or knee part of the aircraft\'s seat belt.
AmSafe does not make airbags for helicopters, but there is no reason not to do so, Smith said.