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Rear-facing seats in emergency landing - position?

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Rear-facing seats in emergency landing - position?

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Old Feb 1, 2012, 3:49 pm
  #1  
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Rear-facing seats in emergency landing - position?

Fairly obviously, a rear-facing seat is best for surviving an impact (why else are the FAs seated in that direction?). The only experience I have of these seats is in UA's new C class, where I prefer them both because of this, and the general novelty value. It stands to reason, does it not, that in these seats, you do *not* want to adopt the brace position in the event an emergency landing, but rather keep your spine as close to the seat as possible. They don't tell you this in safety briefings or in the safety cards though, unless I'm missing something. Or am I wrong about this assumption? Maybe they are just saving it for the specific instructions prior to an emergency landing (which I'm pleased to say I've never experienced)?
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Old Feb 1, 2012, 3:55 pm
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I am fairly certain you are correct about the brace position in a rear facing seat. From what I read about air crash survival, the seatback helps dissipate the energy of impact.
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Old Feb 1, 2012, 11:00 pm
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Southwest had/has rear facing seats. The brace position shown on the safety cards is sitting up straight, with hands clasped behind the head, elbows pointing straight ahead. If it was me in that situation, I would have my hands in front of my face to try and protect it from debris.

I haven't flown with them in a while, so I don't know if they still have 'lounge seating'. It was great if you were traveling with several people.
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Old Feb 2, 2012, 9:04 am
  #4  
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Some people are said to get motion sickness when facing backward in a moving vehicle.
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Old Feb 2, 2012, 10:11 am
  #5  
 
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The BA safety video for rear-facing passengers (in Club World) recommends a position sitting straight up, with your hands crossed across your chest. I always think of it as the "die in a state of grace" position.
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Old Feb 2, 2012, 11:34 am
  #6  
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On my flight from HKG this week, the FA asked me what the proper position is for brace in rear facing C seats on UA.

I told her that I hadn't thought about it, although I am almost always seated in them.

She said that the position is to sit straight up, with arms on one's chest or holding onto the headrest.

Dave
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Old Feb 2, 2012, 1:35 pm
  #7  
 
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Interesting how different all of those are from the f/a brace position in a rear facing jumpseat.
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Old Feb 2, 2012, 5:57 pm
  #8  
 
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Originally Posted by GalleyWench
Interesting how different all of those are from the f/a brace position in a rear facing jumpseat.
There's more - F/A uses race-car style 5 point safety harness (everyone but the flight deck, get the good old 1-click seat belt.
Letitride3c is offline  


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