Originally Posted by
geminidreams
No they were not 100% wrong. A car seat in a car is secured in a frame that is locked down. That does not exist in an aircraft so the alignment does not really make much difference. If the baby is strapped in the capsule the capsule will provide as much protection in either direction and unless you have a bundle of crash tests done like they do for cars you would be hard pressed to prove different.
the main reason infants should be rear facing is because they better protect against crash loads most likely to occur. That is a force from front to back , E.g. frontal collision.