How have airplane seatbelts evolved over the years?
Turbulence can vary from a few minor bumps to significantly prolonged shaking. It can be a significant source of anxiety for many people, though almost all frequent fliers have experienced turbulence at least once. Fortunately, it’s generally not something to be concerned about, but in rare cases, it can injure people. In the last two months, multiple turbulence incidents led to some hospitalizations. An easy strategy to prevent injury from sudden turbulence is wearing your seatbelt even when the sign is off, but how have seatbelts changed over time?
Lieutenant Benjamin Foulois, a US Army general who served from 1898 to 1935, made many military aviation firsts. In 1910, having survived an aircraft crash that nearly ejected him, he decided to modify a Wright Model A Military Flyer with the first seatbelt in aviation. He requested a four-foot-long leather strap to keep him strapped to the seat, and it worked. Among all his achievements, like rising to the position of Air Corps Chief, Foulois can be credited with the first use of a safety strap in the industry.
Years later, in 1929, Charles N. Montieth, Boeing’s chief engineer, gave a presentation at the aeronautical meeting of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. He declared that, in time, commercial air travel would feature the luxuries of rail travel at the time, such as sleeping compartments, smoking rooms, the capacity to serve large meals, and more. However, he was also concerned about aircraft safety, and with safety belts already being used elsewhere in transportation, he suggested this addition for the aviation industry would make sense.
A rocky road to seatbelts being commonplace
While fliers from the 1930s to 1950s became more familiar with fastening an airliner seatbelt, they became very controversial pieces of equipment. Information had spread that the lap safety belts were a deadly hazard rather than a protective measure. A British European Airways flight from Paris to London crash-landed on October 31, 1950. In the aftermath, reports mentioned that over half of the 28 victims died from internal damage due to wearing a seatbelt. This information would later be proved false with proof that the armrests likely damaged some organs, and the force of the crash uprooting seats and belts was enough to send passengers flying into rigid, sharp objects.
Though the lap belt had been proven innocent, in the 1950s, an innovation for the automotive industry would further improve transportation safety. A former Volvo engineer, Nils Bohlin, invented the three-point seatbelt that’s now standard in most motor vehicles. Today, these are increasingly common in business class seats, like in the United Airlines Polaris cabin. Requirements to fit them are challenging for the economy and premium economy style seating, and they’re more expensive to maintain. But lap belts are still safe, and an air incident would put them to the test in the late 1980s.
Standard lap belts prevented passenger ejection
On April 28, 1988, a Boeing 737 flying from Hilo, Big Island, Hawaii, suffered a catastrophic explosive decompression, tearing off the front half of the fuselage. Aloha Airlines Flight 243 eventually landed safely in Maui. While many walked away with intense physical and mental injuries, no passengers perished, partly because they all wore seatbelts for the short hop.
Three cabin crew had been serving passengers the moment everything went wrong; one became trapped under debris and wires, one was thrown to the ground and held on to the seats in front of her, and unfortunately, forces from the event sucked one out from the aircraft. Despite the tragic loss of flight attendant Clarabelle Lansing, it’s still a miracle that the pilots were able to get everyone else down to the ground, and a testament to the standard seatbelt many people take for granted.
Simple lap seatbelts are a proven safety standard, easy to fasten and undo by hand but difficult to come apart on their own. While other seatbelt designs, such as the three-point seat belt, may be a safer alternative, the tried-and-true lap belt is the most economical solution to keep passengers safe in the face of turbulence or worse.
Sources: Smithsonian, Plane and Pilot, History
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