PPRuNe Forums - Upper Torso Restaints in GA Aircraft

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How the world has changed . It takes a while tho.
I once read decades ago, a Safety Digest article about 10 FATAL Auster accidents in which they postulated 9 would have survived if they had been wearing shoulder harness, instead of just a lap strap as was in the good old days.
Later when I got an Auster, I installed shoulder straps. Here in Oz , getting it on the Oz register, I was required to uninstall the shoulder harness.!
Before departure, once around the corner, the shoulder straps were replaced. I could at least fly away happy, that the restraints would prevent me from bashing my head on the instrument panel in the event of misfortune.
I have been 'strongly encouraged' for the past 50 years to have that 'upper body restraint'
Good to see they're finally onto it !

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sunfish (Post 10597199)

Okihara:
The first rule of safety is not to put yourself in a position where you need all those gadgets. my understanding is that early on, Cirrus had a bad accident rate which has now been fixed by extra training.

I understand that pilots new to the hardware would delay pulling the chute to favour emergency landing. Extra training with checklists that made the parachute a first class citizen apparently did the trick.

Likewise, I personally hardly consider a shoulder strap to be a gadget nowadays. Seriously, while most cars as of 2019 have airbags, they also still have shoulder straps so why not just have them in light aircraft too?

As for not putting yourself in a position where those gadgets will come in handy, that's somewhat of a relative statement. A G430 or other GNSS device is hardly a "gadget" any more so I would ask: how many GA pilots would be as comfortable flying without one? A second engine is a gadget too. You'll obviously be more confident flying over tigerland in a twin.

Quote:

Originally Posted by megan (Post 10597159)

Good friend flew his Baron into the side of a hill at night following take off at Port Lincoln, survivable crash if only he had the shoulder strap on. Found five hours after the crash, his body still warm, bled to death from head impacting instrument panel. If only he had worn the shoulder strap fitted.

In his biography, Major Vic Pedersen, flying Salvo padre early post war was returning to Darwin from SW in his AUSTER when he suffered an engine failure over heavily timbered country.

He mushed it in to the tree tops (stall 26 KN) and evacuated with minor facial injuries. Said he wouldn’t have been hurt at all if his seat belt had been done up.

i have full harness in mine.

Why is there an entire thread de-crying the ATSB merely suggesting UTRs? This is nonsense. Don’t want to install them? Don’t. But what will you do when the corroner finds your rear seaters could potentially have lived or had significantly reduced injuries?

j3

Quote:

Originally Posted by j3pipercub (Post 10598547)

But what will you do when the corroner finds your rear seaters could potentially have lived or had significantly reduced injuries?

j3

To be honest... probably nothing, because it wasn’t mandatory. I’d be more worried about the Civil lawsuits when your best friends die in the back of your aircraft or your wife divorces you because your children died and you lived. Oh, and you’re in a wheelchair and or can’t work for the rest of your life.

Crash report from Cessna 172 at Agnes Isand, QLD:
https://www.atsb.gov.au/publications...r/ao-2017-005/

Quote:

CASA has stated that it will not be mandating the fitment of upper torso restraints, even for air transport flights in small aircraft. Given that a significant number of small aircraft in Australia still do not have upper torso restraints in non-front row seats, the ATSB has issued a safety recommendation to CASA. The ATSB recommends that CASA consider mandating the fitment of upper torso restraints for all seats in small aircraft, particularly those used for air transport operations and/or aircraft where the manufacturer has issued a mandatory service bulletin to fit upper torso restraints for all seats.While this is being considered by CASA, the ATSB has issued a safety advisory notice to encourage all owners and operators of small aircraft to fit upper torso restraints for all passenger seats to minimise injury risk.