1 00:00:02,040 --> 00:00:07,040 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works, Hey, brain Stuff, 2 00:00:07,120 --> 00:00:10,639 Speaker 1: Lauren vog obam here. When the fastened seatbelt sign flashes 3 00:00:10,680 --> 00:00:14,800 Speaker 1: on in airplanes, with its accompanying provenly gentle ding, it's 4 00:00:14,840 --> 00:00:19,200 Speaker 1: often met with equal parts annoyance and resignation, like, what again, 5 00:00:19,440 --> 00:00:23,080 Speaker 1: really do I have to The answer, of course, is yes, 6 00:00:23,440 --> 00:00:25,640 Speaker 1: you really have to. It's for the good of your 7 00:00:25,680 --> 00:00:29,040 Speaker 1: skull and that's where you keep your brain. We spoke 8 00:00:29,080 --> 00:00:32,520 Speaker 1: with Richard mcspaden, the executive director of the Aircraft Owners 9 00:00:32,520 --> 00:00:36,599 Speaker 1: and Pilots Association's Air Safety Institute. He said, I think 10 00:00:36,600 --> 00:00:39,120 Speaker 1: it's the old it's not going to happen to me syndrome. 11 00:00:39,360 --> 00:00:42,199 Speaker 1: Aviation accidents are so rare that people say, what are 12 00:00:42,240 --> 00:00:44,560 Speaker 1: the odds that's going to happen to me? And I 13 00:00:44,560 --> 00:00:46,760 Speaker 1: would agree with them that the odds are extremely low, 14 00:00:47,360 --> 00:00:50,040 Speaker 1: But he continued, I would then add that even though 15 00:00:50,040 --> 00:00:53,040 Speaker 1: the odds are low, the consequences of something happening can 16 00:00:53,080 --> 00:00:56,160 Speaker 1: be pretty significant. Even if it's just a bump in turbulence. 17 00:00:56,520 --> 00:00:58,480 Speaker 1: If you're not strapped in right, your head could hit 18 00:00:58,480 --> 00:01:00,760 Speaker 1: the top of that airplane. That can result in a 19 00:01:00,800 --> 00:01:03,840 Speaker 1: serious injury. And it's so effortless to drop a seatbelt 20 00:01:03,880 --> 00:01:07,479 Speaker 1: around you, and he's right. Though folks of above average 21 00:01:07,520 --> 00:01:10,440 Speaker 1: size may argue with the effortlessness of those seat belts, 22 00:01:10,480 --> 00:01:13,120 Speaker 1: but airplane companies are working on that, and in flight 23 00:01:13,160 --> 00:01:17,200 Speaker 1: turbulence is more than a mere nuisance. The Federal Aviation Administration, 24 00:01:17,319 --> 00:01:19,720 Speaker 1: or f a A, reports that fifty eight people are 25 00:01:19,720 --> 00:01:22,840 Speaker 1: injured by turbulence on airplanes every year while not wearing 26 00:01:22,880 --> 00:01:26,120 Speaker 1: their seatbelts. Most are not ticket holding passengers. Of the 27 00:01:26,160 --> 00:01:28,960 Speaker 1: two hundred and ninety eight serious injuries from turbulence that 28 00:01:29,040 --> 00:01:33,080 Speaker 1: the f a A recorded from eight hundred and eighty 29 00:01:33,120 --> 00:01:36,479 Speaker 1: four involved flight attendants. A simple lap belt or even 30 00:01:36,520 --> 00:01:39,360 Speaker 1: other restraints like shoulder harnesses, may not be enough to 31 00:01:39,400 --> 00:01:43,000 Speaker 1: save a life if an airliner undergoes a catastrophic midair failure, 32 00:01:43,480 --> 00:01:45,759 Speaker 1: but the rare accidents like that are not the main 33 00:01:45,840 --> 00:01:48,880 Speaker 1: reasons for seat belts on airplanes. They're designed to protect 34 00:01:48,920 --> 00:01:53,080 Speaker 1: you from the airplane during flight. Oatherpool and American Airlines 35 00:01:53,080 --> 00:01:55,960 Speaker 1: flight attendant and author put it this way to the Telegraph. 36 00:01:55,960 --> 00:01:59,400 Speaker 1: In the reason you must wear a seat belt, flight 37 00:01:59,400 --> 00:02:01,840 Speaker 1: crew include it is because you don't want the plane 38 00:02:01,960 --> 00:02:04,760 Speaker 1: coming down on you. People think they're lifted up in 39 00:02:04,760 --> 00:02:08,040 Speaker 1: the air during turbulence. But the truth is the plane drops, 40 00:02:08,280 --> 00:02:11,000 Speaker 1: it comes down hard, and it comes down fast, and 41 00:02:11,040 --> 00:02:13,720 Speaker 1: that's how passengers get injured by getting hit on the 42 00:02:13,760 --> 00:02:17,720 Speaker 1: head by an airplane. It's simple physics, Newton's first law 43 00:02:17,720 --> 00:02:20,280 Speaker 1: of motion. A body at rest will remain at rest 44 00:02:20,400 --> 00:02:23,720 Speaker 1: unless an outside force acts on it. But let's unpack that. 45 00:02:24,200 --> 00:02:26,200 Speaker 1: If you're not wearing a seat belt on an airplane 46 00:02:26,200 --> 00:02:29,680 Speaker 1: that drops suddenly, which often happens with turbulence, you're the 47 00:02:29,720 --> 00:02:32,160 Speaker 1: one at rest. You'll stay at rest as the plane 48 00:02:32,320 --> 00:02:35,560 Speaker 1: very literally drops out from under you. If you're strapped in, 49 00:02:35,720 --> 00:02:38,240 Speaker 1: the seatbelt serves as an outside force acting on you, 50 00:02:38,520 --> 00:02:40,919 Speaker 1: taking you with the plane as it drops, and saving 51 00:02:40,960 --> 00:02:43,760 Speaker 1: you from bonking your head on that overhead been above you. 52 00:02:44,480 --> 00:02:47,000 Speaker 1: Mc batten said. It allows you to stay in place 53 00:02:47,040 --> 00:02:49,919 Speaker 1: and ride along with the airplane. It's just that added 54 00:02:49,960 --> 00:02:53,200 Speaker 1: safety margin that if something unexpected happens, you're still going 55 00:02:53,240 --> 00:02:56,800 Speaker 1: to stay with the airplane. But if that's the case, 56 00:02:57,320 --> 00:03:01,440 Speaker 1: would shoulder harnesses be better? A little reasoning might suggest 57 00:03:01,520 --> 00:03:03,480 Speaker 1: that if a lap belt is good while flying, a 58 00:03:03,520 --> 00:03:06,560 Speaker 1: shoulder harness like those in cars and those in smaller 59 00:03:06,840 --> 00:03:11,280 Speaker 1: so called general aviation planes would be even better. Indeed, 60 00:03:11,280 --> 00:03:14,800 Speaker 1: shoulder belts or harnesses might help, according to some experts. 61 00:03:15,440 --> 00:03:18,840 Speaker 1: Mcpadden said the answer would be yes. It certainly would 62 00:03:18,840 --> 00:03:21,120 Speaker 1: help because it would prevent the movement of the upper 63 00:03:21,160 --> 00:03:24,560 Speaker 1: torso aggressively in terms of some kind of sudden impact. 64 00:03:25,120 --> 00:03:28,679 Speaker 1: How you can do that is another question. Entirely, such 65 00:03:28,720 --> 00:03:31,960 Speaker 1: harnesses would be costly to install and trickier to get 66 00:03:31,960 --> 00:03:35,160 Speaker 1: to work correctly on bigger commercial planes that probably be 67 00:03:35,240 --> 00:03:38,200 Speaker 1: uncomfortable on longer flights, And because of all of that, 68 00:03:38,400 --> 00:03:41,120 Speaker 1: wearing shoulder harnesses might meet a lot of resistance from 69 00:03:41,120 --> 00:03:45,200 Speaker 1: the flying public. In large commercial airlines, lap belts do 70 00:03:45,240 --> 00:03:48,120 Speaker 1: the trick against the vertical forces typically experienced in a 71 00:03:48,160 --> 00:03:52,520 Speaker 1: malfunction or crash. In smaller aircraft, though, shoulder harnesses work 72 00:03:52,600 --> 00:03:55,320 Speaker 1: and work well, which is why they are required for 73 00:03:55,360 --> 00:03:58,600 Speaker 1: all seats in all small airplanes manufactured since December twelve. 74 00:04:00,200 --> 00:04:02,840 Speaker 1: Used with lap belts, shoulder harnesses in smaller planes have 75 00:04:02,920 --> 00:04:06,240 Speaker 1: been shown to reduce serious injuries from accidents by percent 76 00:04:06,520 --> 00:04:10,960 Speaker 1: in fatalities by twenty according to the f a A. Ironically, 77 00:04:11,040 --> 00:04:14,200 Speaker 1: the safety record of commercial airlines may be the overwhelming 78 00:04:14,240 --> 00:04:17,000 Speaker 1: reason that shoulder harnesses have not been required of large 79 00:04:17,040 --> 00:04:20,800 Speaker 1: passenger planes. In seventeen, no one was killed in a 80 00:04:20,800 --> 00:04:23,960 Speaker 1: commercial jet airliner incident anywhere in the world, making it 81 00:04:24,040 --> 00:04:27,800 Speaker 1: the safest year ever for big passenger planes. In its 82 00:04:27,880 --> 00:04:31,640 Speaker 1: civil Aviation Safety Review for twenty seventeen, which examined accidents 83 00:04:31,680 --> 00:04:35,320 Speaker 1: on large passenger aircraft, the Dutch aviation consulting firm t 84 00:04:35,520 --> 00:04:39,239 Speaker 1: O seventy estimated that there were zero point zero eight 85 00:04:39,360 --> 00:04:42,760 Speaker 1: fatal accidents per million flights. That is a rate of 86 00:04:42,839 --> 00:04:47,040 Speaker 1: one fatal accident for every twelve million flights. With a 87 00:04:47,080 --> 00:04:49,360 Speaker 1: safety record like that, it's hard to argue that shoulder 88 00:04:49,360 --> 00:04:52,120 Speaker 1: harnesses would lower the risk of flying enough to offset 89 00:04:52,160 --> 00:04:54,839 Speaker 1: the costs, the effort, and the resistance that such a 90 00:04:54,880 --> 00:04:58,960 Speaker 1: major change would generate. Lat Belts, though they help, they 91 00:04:58,960 --> 00:05:02,000 Speaker 1: help a lot, so when flying it's probably best to 92 00:05:02,080 --> 00:05:04,800 Speaker 1: buckle up and stay that way. It's for your brain's 93 00:05:04,800 --> 00:05:12,440 Speaker 1: own good. Today's episode was written by John Donovan and 94 00:05:12,440 --> 00:05:16,040 Speaker 1: produced by Tyler Clang, with kind engineering assistance from Ramsay youngt. 95 00:05:16,279 --> 00:05:18,720 Speaker 1: For more on this and lots of other skull saving topics, 96 00:05:18,839 --> 00:05:32,480 Speaker 1: visit our home planet, how Stuff Works dot com.