# Presentation: 319106

## Improvement of Cabin Equipment  to Enhance  Safety against Turbulence

***Association of Air Transport Engineering ***
***and Research (ATEC), Japan***

***Shozo Hirose***

## Objectives of the committee

**A research committee,  commissioned by JCAB and supported by ATEC, was formed in order to ****     ****- analyze turbulence related accidents, ****          ****- review**** ****current status and  ****        ****        ****- work out practical safety measures**
**The committee members are from****            ****- ****National aerospace laboratory of Japan,****        ****- Aviation accident investigation commission,****     ****- Airlines and****                     ****    ****- Aircraft equipment manufacturers**

## Turbulence accidents analyzed by the committee

**Reviewed 98 accidents occurred in USA, UK and Japan during 1997 - 2002 **
**143 ****persons injured seriously and one person fatally (****57 ****passengers and 87 flight attendants injured seriously, and 1 passenger injured fatally)**
**Flight attendants are 36 times more likely to be injured than passengers **

## Signs of violent jolts

**Of 10 turbulence related accidents in Japan,****        ****- ****Jolted all of a sudden ...............................1 case****  ****- Sustained vibration were felt beforehand.......3 cases**** **** ****- Vibration began 2 to 4 seconds before...........6 cases**
**In many cases, signs of violent jolts are perceivable, even for a CAT.**
**Handholds that give quick grip would be effective to mitigate turbulence related injuries.**

## Examples of FDR (Vertical acceleration)

## Injuries by galley carts

**Of 98 turbulent related accidents, galley carts caused****   ****- 9 accidents (9%)****                      ****    ****- ****10 ****serious injuries (7%) **
**Galley carts moved violently but not caused injuries in****   ****- 6 accidents (6%)**
**Galley carts are involved in 15% of accidents in total**

## Expected effects on mitigation of injuries

| Possible safety measures |  | Passengers | Flight attendants |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Software | Belts fastened while seated | 29 | 0 |
|  | Turbulence procedure | 0 | 29 |
|  | Prohibition of loading heavy articles in overhead stowage | 1 | 0 |
| Hardware | Handgrips in galleys | 0 | 24 |
|  | Handgrips on passenger seats | 1 | 10 |
|  | Galley carts fixation | 2 | 6 |
|  | Handgrips on jump seats | 0 | 3 |
|  | Handgrips in toilets | 2 | 0 |
|  | Handgrips outside toilets | 2 | 0 |
|  | Coffee pots with lids | 1 | 0 |
|  | Display of  passenger seatbelts status  | 1 | 0 |

## Existing Handholds

## Existing handholds(Cabin aisle)

**Handrails under the**
**Overhead Stowage**

## Existing handholds (Galley)

## Existing handholds(Outside of toilets)

**Suitcase handles outside toilets**

**Recessed handle**

## Questionnaire survey on flight attendants

## Experience of violent jolt(Questionnaire survey on flight attendants)

**456 flight attendants answered**
**Experience of violent jolt that caused or may have caused injuries**

## Effectiveness of handholds (Questionnaire survey on flight attendants )

**Experience of escaping injury by grabbing handholds**** **

**Yes 92 %**

**No 8 %**

## Insecure places in the cabin (Questionnaire survey on flight attendants )

**Cabin aisle : Only a few handholds**
**Galley : Flight attendants spend much time**
**Outside toilet : Wide open area and no handholds**

**Cabin aisle 60 %**

**Others 2 %**

**Toilet 5 %**

**Outside toilet 15 %**

**Galley 18 %**

## Desirable handholds (Questionnaire survey on flight attendants )

**Cabin aisle                                                                            - Handgrips on the shoulder of passenger seats                ****- ****Handrails under the overhead stowage**
**Galley                                                                                    ****- ****More handholds                                                                 ****- ****Handholds at low position for use when squat down     - Handholds on the galley walls**
**Outside toilets                                                                       - Handholds near the doors for waiting passengers**

## Proposed Measures 

## Handgrips on passenger seats

**Conspicuous and easy to grip**
**Needs a compromise between safety and comfortableness**

## Handgrips on flight attendant’s seat

**No disadvantages and highly feasible**
**Also effective for passengers waiting for toilet**

## Handgrips in toilet

**Two bars on the both sides of a toilet seat **
**Prevent floatation of the passenger**
**Sanitary problem must be solved**

## Handholds on the toilet and galley walls

**Should not impede emergency evacuation**** **

## Engagement with passenger seats(Manual or automatic)

**Engages with passenger seat manually or automatically**
**Need to place the cart at the predetermined positions**

## Floor track system

**Most effective method to prevent floatation**
**Too much cost for existing airplane**
**Can be adopted by newly designed airplane**

## Tying-down with ropes

**Lowest cost**
**High workload for flight attendants**
**Insufficient fixation**** **

## Conclusions

**Keeping seatbelts fastened while seated and new turbulence procedures are very effective to mitigate turbulence related injuries.**
**In many cases, sign of severe turbulence is foreseeable. Handholds that can be reached quickly are effective.**
**Handgrips in the cabin aisle are feasible and effective. Embodiments of proposed handholds are desirable.**
**Galley carts should not be neglected as causes of injuries. Further research is required to prevent floatation.**

## An example of embodiment of the committee conclusions

**ANA B737NG**
**Handrails under**
**the Overhead**
**Stowage**

## END

***Thank you......***

***hirose@atec.or.jp***

## The Fourth Triennial International Aircraft Fire and Cabin Safety 

**The Fourth Triennial ****International Aircraft Fire and Cabin Safety **
**Research Conference**