Learn about airplane safety history

Although seat belts were considered an option in 1929, Charles N. Monteith, chief engineer at the Boeing Aircraft Company (BAC) figured it would be common sense. Twenty years later, the seat belt became so popular that it appeared in a 1950 film titled All About Eve.

The reference shows how familiar the public is with the fastening of people to airplane seats. While seat belts were popular, their use was not initially mandatory on public flights. In 1950, thanks to World War II, a lot of money and intelligence was poured into American aviation research.

The American Committee for Aeronautical Medicine (CAM, a group of scientists and engineers with a shared interest in flight and human physiology) was established in the fall of 1940 by the National Research Council. . The focus of CAM is simple and urgent: improving the effectiveness of wartime aircraft and crew survival rates.

Passengers are served meals on a British European airline's Vickers Viscount aircraft in the 1950s (Image source: Mary Evans Picture Library).

In an article published in the New York Times on November 22, 1947, Mr. De Haven derided the leash as unsafe. He thinks it is false news that is spreading in the public when it is considered 'dangerous', the result of 'ignorance and superstition' . DeHaven asserted 'the false accusation that wearing a seat belt causes internal injury in the event of an accident can cost lives'.

Immediately following Mr. DeHaven's comments, public education campaigns dispel the false belief that seat belts can cause internal injuries. But then suddenly there was a tragic air crash. On Halloween night (October 31, 1950), about 30 people boarded a Vickers VC-1 (known as Lord St. Vincent) for a flight from Paris to London, and then 28 people died. in a fatal accident.

The British European Airlines flight departed from Le Bourget Airport (Paris) at 6:39pm for Northolt (London). As the twin-engine plane approached London, the fog locked it in. At 7:25pm, pilot and captain Clayton checked in with Uxbridge Air Traffic Control and was told that visibility at Northolt Airport was less than 50 yards.

Instead of landing, Captain Clayton steered the plane to Heathrow and began landing on runway 28. 400 miles from the runway, the captain informed the air traffic tower that he had failed to land. landing. With the chassis retracted, the aircraft slid down a 20-degree angle at speeds between 80 knots and 120 knots. It slid more than 100 feet, then bounced, flew for half a mile, and finally hit the ground before turning into a fireball. Only 1 hostess and 1 passenger survived.

The official investigation begins. Dr. Donald Teare (who specializes in forensics on celebrity deaths and motor vehicle crashes) led the investigation team. Mr Teare's report on September 22, 1951, published in the British Medical Journal read: 'The cause of immediate death was more than half of the victims whose bodies were bent by the seat belts'.

Deeming Dr Teare's persuasion flawed, the CIR agents are tasked with dispelling his bizarre concept of death. And it was the former president of CAM, Dr. Eugene DuBois, who answered the question. At the time, Mr. DuBois was an emeritus professor of physiology at Cornell Medical College. On September 27, 1952, the British Medical Times published an article by Professor Dubois titled 'Safety belts are not dangerous'.

The wrecked cabin is the subject of the Accident Injury Research (CIR) project. This project received the award for outstanding service to flight safety. (Image source: NASA).

GS. DuBois confirmed 'impact collisions major happened in the arm to make the passenger was thrown sharply to the right ' side which has handrails hard and above have caused serious injury to the liver and spleen ' . However, it was the intense sliding force of the plane when landing that ended the lives of 28 victims, causing both seats and seat belts to be ripped off. Victims were thrown into sharp and hard objects that broke bones and ruptured the aorta. A bent seat belt is not the cause of the accident.

In response to the air crashes of the 1950s, in 1958, the US Congress passed the Federal Aviation Act. The next seat belt struggle that broke out in the US was their use in cars. In 1953, Hugh DeHaven and Elmer Paul (from the Indiana Public Police) founded the Auto Accident Injury Research (ACIR) Project.

In 1966, Hugh DeHaven joined the forces of Dr. William Haddon to form the National Safety Bureau (NSB). Finally, on January 1, 1968, the U.S. Congress passed the Motor Vehicle Safety Standard, which federal law requires every vehicle except buses to have seat belts installed in all positions. designated seats. But it will also take another 30 years for the American public to fully comply with the law.

The law aviation safety including the seat belt has been codified since 1972 with regular updates since then.