Buckle up for safety! The long-running ad campaign that got us all to wear our seat belts when driving is just as relevant to airplanes as cars, and children as well as adults. DOT-mandated driving laws require young children to be not only restrained by seat belts but also ensconced in approved car seats. When it comes to flying in an airplane, however, the most vulnerable of our children, those under the age of two, do not have to be restrained at all. Many parents who would never think of driving with an infant or toddler unsecured in the backseat of a car seem unaware of the safety risk in an aircraft. And if you’re thinking that it’s because they don’t want to pay for an extra seat, think again. Many people I’ve spoken with say that if it were unsafe for a child to fly unrestrained, the FAA wouldn’t allow it. Even people flying business aircraft with their families who have the means to provide appropriate restraints don’t always have child safety seats for their children.
Although everyone in aviation knows that a parent’s arms, no matter how strong, are inadequate to harness a child in the event of violent turbulence or rapid deceleration, the FAA apparently still does not see fit to mandate safety seats. Unrestrained, a child can become an uncontrolled flying object in the cabin with potentially catastrophic effect. A survivable accident could result in the serious injury or even death of an unsecured child. Speculative? Tell that to the parents who have survived a crash only to learn that their infant-in-arms was not so lucky.
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