National Aerospace Laboratory

Forum focuses on safety initiatives
December 1, 2008 - 6:50am

Crashworthiness Study

Cockpit airbags and X-shaped harnesses could reduce the severity of injuries in crashes with high horizontal deceleration components by as much as 22 percent. Pilots and forward-facing passengers, meanwhile, can be protected from predominantly vertical impacts by energy-absorbing seats, but only if the absorbers are optimized for the weight of the occupant.