LightChopAhead

I notice this every time I am flying. Somebody who does this please explain what’s the rush and why it’s necessary?

davistev

Zero chance of turbulance. Easier to load your pockets with the contents that you put in the seat in front of you (passport, Cell phone etc,. Extra comfort and so on

petit_manchot

Might be zero chance of turbulence, but if the pilots, for some reason, have to slam on the brakes while you’re leaning forward to get something out of the pocket in front you’ll certainly know about it.

Often1

1. It will make the aircraft arrive sooner.
2. It might win you the opportunity to stand in the aisle for an extra 30 seconds and therefore feel as though you are making progress when you are not.
2. It shows that you don't have to live by the rules while the others do and therefore makes you a cool person when you are not.

The seatbelt rule exists on the ground for the same reason it exists for motor vehicles on the ground. Zero chance of turbulence.

LightChopAhead

There’s a nasty video of the tail of a CRJ getting clipped by an Air France 380 in JFK on YouTube. Wouldn’t want to be unbuckled for something like that either. Regardless the time somebody saves by unbuckling early is only going to let them stand in the aisle longer waiting for the MCD to be opened and for people to deplane.

Ilove2fly

Pax have been injured for exactly that and less.. we live a world where people demand complete "freedom" and blame the companies when they get hurt.

DenverBrian

1) Because taxi speed is generally 20mph, and the odds of me being injured by a sudden stop at those speeds are even less than the odds of me being injured while walking up/down the aisle of the plane in flight.

2) Because it's usually the only way I can cram my phone back into a front pants pocket.

3) Because if I leave it buckled, I'll inevitably try to stand up while still buckled once it's my turn.

4) Because if there is a true evac emergency on the ground, I'd rather not lose 2-3 seconds unbuckling.

Qwkynuf

I find this funny in the same way that I find "It's better to be thrown free of the car in an accident" funny.

Back when I was in high school (because you could never get away with it now), The state police in my area had a "ride"/demonstration booth for "seatbelt awareness" at our local county fair for several years. It was a seat from a car bolted to a sled on a short incline with a rubber stop at the bottom. It was apparently calibrated to hit the stop at 10mph. I don't remember the dimensions exactly, but it seems like it was maybe a 15-20 degree slope, and you slid maybe 10 feet. They'd put you in the seat and strap you in with a standard 3-point car style seat belt and then cut you loose and let the sled hit the bump stop at 10mph.

My friends and I thought that was the most entertaining thing at the fair! We would stand and watch for hours as people's glasses flew off of their faces, jewelry was flung everywhere, and a couple of times - people had false teeth fly right out of their mouths! That's high comedy to a 15 year old!

According to an online calculator that I found, a 150lb belted passenger experiences over 750 lbs of impact force in a 10mph collision with a stationary object. I'm not going to verify the math, but the formula looks correct (https://www.omnicalculator.com/physi...force-equation). Removing the seat belt increases the force of impact to over 3,800 pounds, due to the time that your body maintains the original vehicle velocity before slamming into the dashboard/windshield/whatever (instead of decelerating with the car via the seatbelt connection). Doubling the velocity to 20mph QUADRUPLES the forces involved.

So, your assertion that being unbuckled in your seat at 20mph is less likely to injure you than walking in the aisle at 500mph fails math. If your plane stops suddenly at 500mph, you are likely dealing with some systemic problems that are going to make walking away unlikely in any event. The plane making an emergency stop on a taxiway or apron, or impacting another vehicle on the ground is statistically infinitely more likely, and the forces involved are going to make for a pretty uncomfortable month or two.

Here's an example of a similar sled, though this one seems to be calibrated to 5mph: https://www.unilad.co.uk/news/connec...ash-simulator/

hotturnip

Ahhh, yes.

The age-old question. (Aviation Age, at least.)

One might similarly ask:

Why do so many people stand crowding the gate when they aren't due to board for another 20 minutes?
Why do so many people race eagerly just to stand in the aisle for 20 minutes until it's their turn to de-board?
Why do so many people ignore the instructions to put their smaller item under the seat?
Why do so many people place their bags sideways right in the middle of the overhead?

jrl767

the curmudgeon’s simplistic answer to all these questions is that common sense and common courtesy are sadly no longer common

DenverBrian

Cool story, bro.

84fiero

I mean, the risk of injury partly depends on how early is "early"....from just taxiing off of the runway at one extreme to the other end where the plane is slowly creeping the last few feet into the gate parking spot. But you'll occasionally see more than just early unbuckling...

Last year flying on a few domestic flights in Greece, every time, most passengers stood up and started grabbing their bags and rushing to the front of the plane probably about 3 feet before we came to a stop at the gate. In one instance, my wife and I were in aisle and middle seats and the guy in the window seat literally started trying to climb over us right when this premature mad rush started (nevermind that the aisle was already packed full).

A few years back on a flight CNS-SYD, there was a Chinese tour group (about 30 people) onboard. The FAs had a hard time getting a few of them to stay seated when we were close to final approach. Then as soon as the nose wheel touched down, most of the tour group stood up and began retrieving their bags from the overhead. This precipitated a PA announcement from an FA - which did no good. We stopped for a few minutes on the taxiway immediately after clearing the runway and the FAs had to come back and get them to re-stow their bags and sit down.

Tanic

Not zero.

sportsguy1

I think another reason why some people might do so is anxiety or nervousness. Flying for some people can be uncomfortable, maybe even nerve-racking, and once the plane has landed they might feel that unbuckling the seat belt is the "beginning of the end" as it were of their experience. Obviously it's unsafe to do so, and many of those for whom flying is a stressful or worrying experience will not unbuckle their seat belt before the plane is safely at the gate. For some however, it might be a mechanism (however unsafe or illogical) to help reduce their stress and anxiety.

bobbytables

I regularly ride buses which don’t have seatbelts, travel at a similar or greater speed than airplanes taxi at, and IMO have a higher chance of a sudden stop. I’m comfortable with that risk and therefore am also comfortable with the risk of unbuckling my seatbelt after we’ve slowed to taxi speed. If you’re not comfortable with that risk, don’t do it - but my choice to do so in no way affects you.

As for standing up as soon as the seatbelt signs go off once we’re at the stand/gate - I’ve been sitting a long time, and I hate sitting. So yes, I’d like to stand. Again, feel free to keep sitting if you prefer that.