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posted by Fnord666 on Monday July 31 2017, @10:34AM   Printer-friendly
from the next-up:-the-case-of-the-expanding-airline-passenger dept.

The 'Incredible Shrinking Airline Seat' Gets a U.S. Court Rebuke

If you think the government should do something about the cramped legroom on airplanes, you've got a friend in a federal court.

The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., on Friday ordered aviation regulators to consider setting minimum standards for the space airlines give passengers.

"This is the Case of the Incredible Shrinking Airline Seat," Judge Patricia Ann Millett wrote on behalf of the three-judge panel. "As many have no doubt noticed, aircraft seats and the spacing between them have been getting smaller and smaller, while American passengers have been growing in size."

The court found in favor of Flyers Rights, a nonprofit advocacy group, which had argued that steadily shrinking legroom and seat size created a safety hazard and the Federal Aviation Administration should impose new restrictions.

Additional coverage at Reuters and CNN

Opinion for the Court filed by Circuit Judge MILLETT.


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  • (Score: 3, Informative) by Spamalope on Monday July 31 2017, @01:08PM (1 child)

    by Spamalope (5233) on Monday July 31 2017, @01:08PM (#547122) Homepage

    I've run across two type of car seatbelts with a center button.

    The first older type is more difficult to remove than the airline belts, especially under pressure. This matters for a reason I'll get to in a moment.

    The 2nd type is easy to remove. In fact, sharp hits to the center of the clasp unlock it. Hits from either side. So if your hip bone hits it in an accident it can unlock. That's a potential problem with the inertial reel belts too. I was in a wreck where the bumpers missed so there was a softer sheet metal impact then a brief pause before solid parts of the car hit. During the release of pressure the seat belts reels let go and never grabbed again, resulting in terrible injuries for both of us in the front.

    The airline seats have another problem. The attachments to the floor aren't strong enough. In a crash the rail on the floor can pull up, or the seat legs break. Your belt isn't connected to any solid structure - just the seat. So the seat carrying the heaviest passenger behind you breaks free and lands on the seat in front which breaks. That cascade doesn't stop until everyone is piled up crushed in the front, fatal for all but the passengers in the very back (maybe).

    Even if the seats don't fail, they're likely to bend. You want a seat belt buckle that operates in that situation.

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  • (Score: 1, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 31 2017, @05:12PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 31 2017, @05:12PM (#547253)

    In the event of a crash the seatbelts are not for protecting your safety. They are to try to keep you in your seat so your body is easier to identify.