The latest from our mates in the ATSB:
To Whom It May Concern:The ATSB is issuing a safety advisory notice to owners and operators of small aeroplanes manufactured before December 1986 and helicopters manufactured before September 1992 currently without upper torso restraints (shoulder strap or harness) fitted to all seats.The safety advisory notice strongly encourages operators and owners of these aeroplanes and helicopters to fit upper torso restraints to all seats in their aircraft. Accident experience provides substantial evidence that the use of upper torso restraints reduces the risk of serious injuries to the head, neck, and upper torso of aircraft occupants, and reduces the rate of fatalities for occupants involved in otherwise survivable aircraft accidents. A full copy of the safety advisory is available on the ATSB website (AO-2017-005-SAN-028). We have endeavoured to send this email to the owners of all potentially applicable aircraft. We apologise if this advice does not apply to your current aircraft.Any questions about the notice can be forwarded to: [email protected]
Anyone hazard a guess as to how much the engineering would costs involved to retro fit your average 4 seater GA bugsmasha? Surely the same risks would apply to occupants in the cattle class seats of your A320, 737 etc. My guess is that someone in that office is behind on their KPIs and had to come up with something - anything.