Wed, Sep 08, 2010
2009 Accident In Montana Fatally Injured 7 Children
The NTSB is once again asking the FAA to require all passengers,
even those under 2 years of age, to have their own seats and seat
belts. The recommendation follows a 2009 accident in which 14
people, including seven children, were fatally injured when the
Pilatus PC-12 in which they were traveling went down in
Montana.
The aircraft was taking members of three families to a ski
vacation in Bozeman, MT, but diverted to Butte for unknown reasons.
It went down in a cemetery adjacent to the city's airport. The NTSB
said several of the children were found "far" from the wreckage of
the aircraft, suggesting they were not properly restrained in
individual seats.
Nora Marshall is chief of NTSB survival factors in aviation
safety. She told The Associated Press "We strongly believe one
seat, one person." The board has been making similar
recommendations to the FAA for two decades, and an FAA spokeswoman
said the agency will take the most recent recommendation under
advisement, but has no rules changes in the works at this time.
The NTSB admits that the severity of the crash made it unlikely
that anyone would have survived regardless of seat belts. But its
most recent recommendation says the accident renews the boards
longstanding concerns about restraints.
Under current rules, an adult may hold a child under 2 years of
age on his or her lap during takeoff, landing, or turbulence. The
FAA agrees that putting the child in an individual seat with its
own seat belts would be safer, but says it does not want to require
families to pay for the additional seat or push them onto the
highways for their travel, which FAA spokeswoman Alison Duquestte
says is less safe.
The NTSB disagrees with that assessment. A study put together by
the Board indicates there is no "clearly defined relationship
between diversion from air travel and highway accidents or
injury."
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