Originally Posted by
roscoe1
This was a horrible accident. With all the emphasis on the type of harness used we should not lose sight of the fact that based on what they believe to be known, this was not the cause of this accident. The preliminary cause is that something yanked the lever. This could still have been the case with any kind of harness you use. How do you avoid that in ships where that potential exists. That can obviously happen with a regular doors on flight if loose objects are moved. A less than perfect autorotation is not that uncommon when the circumstances are a real emergency so the quick release is critical but successful egress is still required and that may depend on where you are flying and what you have to land on when the lever is snagged.
All valid and I entirely agree with you, but don’t forget it’s likely all would have survived if either;
A) they weren’t in a harness at all.
B) had a quick release (3 ring type) harness or similar.
The whole type of harness thing is more an argument for a civil suit for damages and apportioning blame for the deaths.
But I agree with you that the accident wouldn’t have happened in the first place if no one was wearing a harness (no tether/wander lead to snag the FCL).