I remember reading Flight a few years ago, (but cannot remember all the details), but the basic gist was that a car seat manufacturer was considering producing seats for airliners. When he started researching the issue, he was told rather stuffily and patronisingly by an aircraft seat manufacturer that there was a lot more to airliner seats than car seats. For example, the goon said, airline seats have to withstand 16g.
"Really" said the seat maker, "that's very interesting: our car seats have to withstand 35g".
Incidentally; 'The bean counters' are often held to be the villains of cost cutting measures, but actually, it is the passengers - who want ever cheaper flights, and who will chose the ticket that is £5 cheaper - who are the ultimate drivers of things such as reduced seat pitch.
Dozy; the Comet 1 failures were a very unfortunate disaster, but calling it a "fiasco" is too harsh - and you might want to rephrase that. Facts about structural science and design that we now take for granted were simply not known back then.
Last edited by Uplinker; 4th Aug 2013 at 14:20.