and pause for breath....
as for the impact with the passenger at the other end.....
The damage is done when said luggage sheds its' kinetic energy into your head through deceleration...
as Kin.NRG = 1/2 MVsqd, with the end velocity being dependent on the acceleration and distance travelled (see previous post), the damage depends on essentially how much the object weighs, how far it is allowed to travel and the relative acceleration/deceleration over that distance. (ie does the mighty Tri* continue to decelerate at 3g for the entire time of flight of the bag, and wehere does the bag's "journey" start from, is it slowed by the bin door etc etc etc). One of the things to remember is that it is not the bag that is accelerating, it is the Tri* that is decelerating. If that continues over the time of flight of the bag (quite short) then your assertion is pretty much correct Wader.
(I've bored even myself!)