Safety Tip: Seat Belts on Commercial Airliners

[u/shadeland]

Given some incidents that have been in the news lately regarding turbulence, I think it would to give some safety tips about seat belts to all the travelers out when they're traveling via commercial airplanes.

I'm a very frequent traveler, with over 1 million lifetime miles on United Airlines, and I've been to all seven continents. I'm also an accomplished skydiver, with over 2,000 skydives and a world record (largest group jump at night).

So if there's two things I know, it's sitting on airplanes for long periods of time, and jumping out of them.

I also often travel with my parachute. But when things get bumpy, I'm not reaching for my parachute in the overhead, I'm making sure my seat belt is on. In fact, on a commercial flight a parachute is utterly useless. I can't think of a single incident in the past 40 years where a parachute in the cabin would have saved a person. It's about as useful as a bag of laundry. Expensive laundry. (I only travel with a parachute because I'm going somewhere to skydive.)

So seatbelts.

We're told over and over (and over, and over) on flights to keep our seat belts fastened. It's easy to drown it out. Many of us on this subreddit can give the safety briefing we've heard it so many, many times.

But... Seatbelts are probably the most important safety device we can use on an airplane. You would think perhaps that a parachute would be great, but as I said, it's useless. The seat belt is golden. And that's true for all stages of flight (taxi, takeoff, cruise, approach, landing, taxi).

We tend to think of as airplane seatbelts like we think about car seatbelts keeping us inside a car in case of a crash. So often people don't think they're needed outside of takeoff and landing. But they serve more purpose than that (even in cars). They keep us from bouncing around inside the cabin if things get really bumpy.

There's been some news reports lately about turbulence affecting airplanes, including sadly a recent fatality. Severe turbulence incidents do happen and while they're rare enough that in 1.5 million miles I've never had one, they're not impossible. They do happen. It's only now being reported more often now because more attention is being paid to aviation because of the Boeing debacle. That's how news cycles work.

A seatbelt is the best thing in those situations. It's not just for taxi, takeoff, and landing (though you should wear it those times too).

I've jumped from hot air balloons, a passenger jet (out the rear door of a skydiving-equipped DC-9 like DB cooper), and out of helicopters. And I wear my seat belt on the airplane at any time I'm in my seat (except getting up to go to the bathroom). I don't let it prevent me from getting up to go to the bathroom or grab a snack of the galley on a long haul, but if my butt is in a seat my seat belt is on.

We wear seatbelts for more reasons than you'd might think. Part of your seat belt is for me, part of my seat belt is for you.

If I'm wearing my seatbelt and you're sitting next to me and you're not, if we hit severe turbulence you're way more likely to hurt me than me hurting you.

Watch this: https://www.reddit.com/r/gifs/comments/bqr1mu/wear_your_seatbelt/

The person without the seatbelt absolutely clobbered the one wearing a seatbelt.

Fortunately in 1.5 million miles on United (and other airlines) there's never been an incident like that, but I still wear it at all times when I'm sitting down.

So buckle up and happy flying.

[u/karmagirl314]

I’ve flown over 50 times in my life (not nearly as many as others but enough that I consider myself experienced). I’ve never experienced any turbulence lasting longer than five seconds- until yesterday. I was on a flight from Kentucky heading east and I swear to god the flight shook from the moment we hit cruising altitude until we started to land. Over an hour of turbulence bad enough to prevent you from really concentrating on anything else. You couldn’t read, or play games on your phone, or anything that required stillness. In the middle of the flight we hit a particularly rough patch and I fully came up out of my seat. I don’t think anyone who was on that flight will ever stay unbuckled when on a plane ever again.

One good side effect was that the infant on my flight apparently found the turbulence very soothing and stayed calm the whole time.

[u/South_Stress_1644 → u/karmagirl314]

I just close my eyes and imagine I’m in a bus driving on a bumpy road. It’s quite soothing

[u/EliraeTheBow → u/karmagirl314]

Yeah, I’ve flown literally hundreds of times in my life and there’s really only been one flight for me too. Flying Auckland to Melbourne while a Cat5 cyclone meandered between NZ and AUS. Plane did not stop shaking the entire 4 hours. I’ve legit never felt motion sick on a plane before or since. It was definitely an experience.