The just-released aircraft accident report on the tragic death of a six-month old baby in a runway overrun crash just days before Christmas 2012 has spurred the Transportation Safety Board of Canada – the equivalent of the US's NTSB – to call for mandatory age and size appropriate child restraint systems for infants and young children travelling on commercial airliners to "provide an equivalent level of safety compared to adults." The NTSB has called for similar action in the US for many years, so far unsuccessfully.
I write about the airline industry and aviation safety.
The accident that led to the Canadian safety recommendation was Perimeter Aviation Flight 993, a Fairchild Metro twin engine turboprop, that crashed in a remote region of Canada on December 22, 2012. According to the Canadian investigation, the aircraft "came in too high, too steep and too fast," hitting the ground 525 feet past the end of the runway after an unsuccessful attempt to abort the landing. Runway overruns are among the most frequent types of aircraft accidents worldwide and are frequently survivable. In this accident, the two crewmembers and six adult passengers, all properly restrained by seatbelts, survived with injuries that ranged from minor to serious. The one lap child died from multiple trauma when he was ejected from his mother's arms.
As a long-time advocate for banning the practice of lap children on airplanes, I applaud Ms. Fox and second her statement that it's time to do right by our children.