On The Cover: That's a crash-test dummy setup at AmSafe during development of its SOARS seatbelt airbag system for general aviation aircraft in which the airbag is stored in the seatbelt and/or shoulder harness. The AmSafe SOARS is approved for installation on 423 types of aircraft, and it can be used to replace two-, three-, four-, and five- point restraints. Airbags aside, aircraft seatbelts are one of the most neglected systems on the aircraft. Senior Editor Rick Durden dives deep into the topic starting on page 4.
As aviation learned from the automotive world, airbags that deploy within milliseconds of the beginning of an impact event and keep the occupant from slamming into the panel have saved countless lives. The initial challenge for the aircraft world was where to store the airbags and how to deploy them. I looked at records and […]
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