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The Reason Behind the Seat Belt Demo
Jesse Tabit July 13, 2016
Per USA Today, flight attendants demonstrate the motions of to buckling up because many flyers who are disoriented, distracted, or mentally “foggy” may confuse the belt with that of a car seat’s, which work differently from an aircraft’s “lift” buckle. “In other words, previously established ‘muscle memory’ works against you in a crisis,” writer George Hobica states. Basically, in a tense situation, passengers may not be able to collect their thoughts and could exhibit extreme amounts of panic.
For more information on this story, visit USA Today.
[Photo: Independent Traveler]
I hope they never have an accident while taxiing or during pushback because that briefing is always given during pushback or taxiing. Also why show how to buckle it, again the briefing is never giving until after pushback or taxiing (in my limited experience) and pushback doesn't happen until everyone is seated and buckled up! Silly!
They've done studies of crashes and found that numerous passengers have their thumb finger broken. Why only the thumb? It's because they're pushing down trying to get it to release.
I agree completely with Miggles. I'm old enough to remember when you needed a seat belt demonstration on airplanes, because few passengers had any experience with them. The reason why the seatbelt demo continues today? Bureaucratic inertia is a powerful force.
Kind of a flimsy reason in my book. I suspect it has more to do with the fact that seat belts were required equipment in aircraft years, if not decades, before they were in cars. And even though seat belts are commonplace now, the safety regulations treat them as if they are still a 1950's novelty.
The buckles are designed to be operable when your manual dexterity is impaired due to injury or freezing, not to mention disorientation. The button in an automotive seat belt buckle requires more precision than you may be capable of in a crash situation.