Child Safety Belts

[IFLy4Free]

Question, if you have an 18 month old can the parent buy a seat for the child and use a booster seat that is approved by the FAA/CAA?

If the child is an infant, what is the lap procedure? In the US the infant can either be in a booster seat that is FAA approved or held on the lap of an adult. The FAA does not allow the seat belt loops that I have seen in the EU.

I need the procedures for a UAE cabin crew manual I am writing.

Thanks

[vodkaholic]

At my airline booster seats are not allowed. However, not sure if this is CAA law or just my airline. However children from 2 weeks up to the age of 3 years can sit in a child car seat, providing it has a solid frame, a quick release 5 point harness, any tray tables removed and the cabin crew have to fit it.
Otherwise babies under the age of 2 have to be secured on their parent's (carers) lap with an extension seat belt. Over the age of 2 they have their own seat.
Hope this helps!

[IFLy4Free]

Child Seats

I guess what I meant by Booster seat was an approved car seat with the proper stickers.

In the US the lap child is to be held on the parents lap with no seat belt on the child. The FAA here has determined that they are not safe and may impede evacuation.

Again in the US the flight attendant is not allowed to put the child in the seat or even touch the seat. They may supervise the installation but due to so many people in the US running off to lawyers with some hairbrained law suit...F/A's just don;t touch them.

[vodkaholic]

The extension seat belts that we use for infants (well, they are the same for obese people too) allow the baby to remain in the seatbeat during an evacuation. We also inform the parent to attach it to their seatbelt by slipping the loop through the thinner end of the seatbelt, so that in an emergency the extension seat belt would slip easily off as soon as the parent's lap belt is undone.

We also are not allowed to touch children, or hold them or anything like that, but we do have to fit the child car seat. Know what you mean about american's and their lawsuits though!! By the way I work for a British carrier.

[flapsforty]

IFLy4Free, perhaps superfluous, but you have checked with the GCAA ?
They are the definitive authority in the UAE.

In our (major European) carrier we use the extension/baby belt exactly as described by vodkaholic. We also allow carseats from newborn up to whatever age the child fits in it, as long as the seat has the 5 point harnass, can be secured with the normal seat belt and does not impede the movement of the seat in front.
The carseat must be placed either at the window, or in between two people of the same party and may never impede anybody's access to the aisle.It has to be left behind in case of an evacuation.

We do touch kids. Hold them while parents fold strollers or stow luggage, hold them when parents need the loo or prepare formula, take them for a stroll round the cabin when they fret and the parents could use a break. Only thing we never do is carry them down the boarding stairs in case we stumble.

Good luck with the manual.

[IFLy4Free]

Child Seats and Belts

GCAA regs state nothing about this topic.... am working with a gal from the EU and we are trying to combine FAA/CAA and GCAA regs....

Folks in the EU are much more polite about children...I had a passenger wipe diaper contents on a seat back when he could not get up due to landing!!!

[pink27]

I work for a UK airline who try to discourage the use of a car seat. If however the parents want to use one it can only be used for a child over 6 months and under 2 years. Any child over 2 years must sit in their own seat. There are strict guidelines as to what is an acceptable car seat and if it meets said guidelines it must be fitted by the parent, we then check to ensure it's fitted correctly. The car seat must be at the window and obviously can not be placed at an emergency exit row or the row forward or aft of it.

[CD]

As you also likely have discovered, the new EU-OPS does not provide much in the way of guidance on this issue:

OPS 1.730 - Seats, seat safety belts, harnesses and child restraint devices

(a) An operator shall not operate an aeroplane unless it is equipped with:
1. ... ;
2. ... ;
3. a child restraint device, acceptable to the Authority, for each infant;
4. ...

The previous JAR-OPS did provide specific guidance but that was removed upon publication of EU-OPS this past summer. While a number of aviation authorities still require the use of the loop belt, others have chosen to no longer permit it's use due to testing and research related to the hazard it poses. One example of such a report is from Germany:

For the transportation of infants on an adult's lap, the adult is restrained with a pelvic belt, and the infant is fixed on the adult's lap with an additional loop belt.
*
In a suddenly occurring deceleration in the longitudinal aircraft axis, the adult and the infant show a pronounced jack-knife effect. The upper torso and the lower extremities of the infant as well as of the adult sitting behind the infant fold up in a forward direction, with the loop belt restraining the infant. Finally, the loop belt drives into the infant's abdomen and only stops at his or her vertebral spine. From the technical point of view, the infant acts like an energy absorption element for the adult; the crash loads acting on the adult are thus reduced, and the infant fixed with the loop belt thus suffers most serious up to fatal injuries.

Examination on the Enhancement of Cabin Safety for Infants

As you indicate that you are using the FAA requirements as a base (presumably 121.311), you will also be aware of the AmSafe CARES device that is now available for use. Quite a few authorities have indicated that they will accept its use on board, including the UK CAA.

Whatever you wind up proposing, just make certain that the authority is willing to accept it.

[vodkaholic]

Our airline has approved the use of the CARES device. I think it sounds like a good idea. The passenger has to provide it themselves though.

[yaletown]

For the FAA and Transport Canada, infant seat belts and booster seats are not allowed. They have this new restaint system that was just approved for children called CARES (CARES | Kids Fly Safe - CARES | Kids Fly Safe). Sometimes I have found that although it is approved by the regulatory authority, it is not permitted in the airline's certificate until they have educated their crews.

[girtbar]

My mind baffles at the fact that two large safety organizations have such differing opinions on lap belts, CAA vers FAA. I apologies for the thread drift/hi-jack but having operated for many years i would say IMHO to say that the lap belts for infants to be safer than leaving a child restrained only by the adults/carer's hands.

I agree that the child sitting up right will no doubt be crushed by the adult, but having the infant flung around the cabin can't be much safer either? There is no way and adult is going to be able to physically hold onto an infant during a sudden deceleration, a la United's Jan Brown the stewardess on the Souix City DC-10 would testify to.

Would the best way to protect an infant restrained with the lap belt not be to have them cradling in the adults/carer's arms than have them sat upright? Its the same recommendation for very small babies and a more natural position for the child?

I've seen children dumped in the aisle during light turbulence whilst been sat on the parents lap, so i have little faith in the hold on tight option!