NTSB -- NTSB STUDY SHOWS THAT AIRBAGS CAN PROVIDE OCCUPANT PROTECTION IN GENERAL AVIATION ACCIDENTS

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NTSB PRESS RELEASE

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National Transportation Safety Board

Washington, DC 20594

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 11, 2011

SB-11-03

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NTSB STUDY SHOWS THAT AIRBAGS CAN PROVIDE OCCUPANT

PROTECTION IN GENERAL AVIATION ACCIDENTS

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Today the National Transportation Safety Board adopted a

study that concluded that general aviation (GA) airplanes

equipped with airbags provide additional protection to

occupants in accidents involving survivable forward impacts.

Airbags are designed to mitigate head and upper body

injuries and are installed in the lap belt or shoulder

harness portions of the restraint system. They were first

approved for use in the pilot and co-pilot seats in GA

aircraft in 2003. Currently, there are nearly 18,000 airbag-

equipped seats in over 7,000 of the 224,000 GA aircraft in

the United States.

"Although airbags have been mandated in automobiles for over

a decade, the aviation industry has no such requirement for

small aircraft," said NTSB Chairman Deborah A.P. Hersman.

"The good news is that over 30 manufacturers have stepped up

to the plate and offer airbags as standard or optional

equipment."

The study, which examined 88 accidents involving airbag-

equipped airplanes that occurred between 2006 and 2009,

found no instances where the airbag caused harm in properly

restrained occupants. In addition, the study found 10

survivable accidents in which the crash forces were severe

enough to cause injury and/or to deploy the airbag.

Within the group of 10 accidents, 12 occupants experienced

airbag deployments, and the study found that the airbag

likely mitigated injuries for two of the occupants.

The study also noted that there were no negative

consequences as a result of airbag deployments. For

instance, there were no cases in which the airbags were

expected to deploy but did not. Nor were there any cases

that involved airbags deploying under unexpected

circumstances, hindering egress, fueling post-crash fires or

interfering with rescue attempts. Yet investigators did

uncover some safety issues with restraint systems.

One such issue involved the incorrect usage or adjustment of

seat belts. In certain aircraft types, the seat belts in the

left and right seats can become reversed, which could result

in the wrong airbag being activated if only one of the seats

is occupied.

There were also concerns with optimal airbag protection for

occupants whose body mass indexes (BMI) classified them as

either overweight or obese (BMIs of 25 or higher). The NTSB

questions whether the airbag-equipped restraints were

designed and tested with the high-BMI population in mind.

An additional finding of this study was the strong

affirmation that correctly installed shoulder harness/lap

belt combinations provide significantly greater protection

in GA accidents than that offered by a lap belt alone. Based

on an analysis of over 37,000 GA accidents, the Board

concluded that the risk of fatal or serious injury was 50

percent higher when an occupant was only restrained by a lap

belt as compared to the combination lap belt and shoulder

harness.

"The simplest and cheapest improvement to the safety of

general aviation aircraft occupants is the mandatory

installation of shoulder harnesses," said Hersman.

The five-Member Board voted to adopt six safety

recommendations, all directed to the Federal Aviation

Administration:

1. Require manufacturers to modify restraint systems

vulnerable to being used incorrectly in newly built GA

airplanes and to modify restraints in existing airplanes.

2. Revise the guidance and certification standards for

restraint systems to reduce the likelihood of misuse.

3. Modify the guidance to GA airbag manufacturers as to how

they should demonstrate that an airbag design provides

adequate protection for a greater range of body sizes,

including very small and very large individuals.

4. Require the retrofitting of shoulder harnesses on all

general aviation airplanes that are not currently equipped

with such restraints.

5. Evaluate the feasibility of requiring airbag-equipped

aircraft to capture and record crash dynamics data to

determine whether the system performed as designed.

6. Develop a system to track safety equipment, such as

restraint systems, airbags, and aircraft parachutes,

designed to improve crash outcomes.

The complete safety study will be available at www.ntsb.gov

in several weeks.

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NTSB Media Contact: Peter Knudson

(202) 314-6100

peter.knudson@xxxxxxxx

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