Details:

Creators:
DeWeese, Richard ; Moorcroft, David ; Abramowitz, Allan ; Pellettiere, Joseph
DeWeese, Richard ; Moorcroft, David ; Abramowitz, Allan ; Pellettiere, Joseph Less -
Corporate Creators:
United States. Office of Aerospace Medicine
Subject/TRT Terms:
[+]
Air Transportation Crashes Crash Injuries Crash Injury Research Crash Tests Dummies Human Subject Testing Leg Neck Restraint Systems Side Collisions
Publication/ Report Number:
DOT/FAA/AM-12/18
Resource Type:
Tech Report
Geographical Coverage:
United States
Edition:
Final report.
Corporate Publisher:
Civil Aerospace Medical Institute
Abstract:
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has standards and regulations that are intended to protect aircraft

occupants in the event of a crash. However, side-facing seats were not specifically addressed when aircraft seat

dynamic test standards were developed in the late 1980s. Since then, considerable research has been conducted to

increase knowledge about injury risks and mitigation technologies for automotive and aviation applications. Some

injury risks such as those to the head, chest, and pelvis are common to both automotive and aviation side-impact

scenarios. FAA research has determined that typical side-facing seat configurations could pose additional neck and

flailing injury risks. To address these identified risks, the FAA sponsored research to develop neck injury criteria

applicable during lateral impacts. This research also evaluated the overall injury risks of the seat configurations

identified as having the greatest injury potential. The research included impact tests using postmortem human

subjects and the ES-2 test dummy.

In this report, the latest advancements in side-facing seat impact testing technology and biomechanical knowledge

are used to identify new testing and injury assessment methods intended to ensure fully side-facing aircraft seat

designs provide the same level of safety afforded occupants of forward- and aft-facing seats. The methods

identified include: use of the ES-2re test dummy and the injury criteria cited in the automotive safety standards to

assess injury, adapting test procedures related to test dummy seating, clothing and instrumentation, applying

injury criteria originally applicable to forward-facing seats, reducing flailing injuries by limiting occupant

excursion and contact, and applying the new neck injury criteria developed by the FAA-sponsored research.

To determine the effect that implementation of the new criteria could have on approval of typical side-facing

seats, the results of research tests with those seat configurations were evaluated using the pass/fail criteria outlined

in this report. This evaluation showed that configurations permitting excessive lateral flailing do not pass, and

those that limit it by combining effective restraint system geometry with a barrier or inflatable restraint, pass

readily. This result indicates that the criteria described in this report can be met by applying current technology.


Format:
PDF
Collection(s):
FAA Civil Aerospace Medical Institute US Transportation Collection
Main Document Checksum:
[+]
urn:sha256:ada1d53bdfc7807d0619a4e9ec04493529bbf10dda734bd2447aeed8344e8f6e
Download URL:
https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/25440/dot_25440_DS1.pdf
File Type:

Supporting Files

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