Safety board urges infants get own seats on airplanes

Infants and young children could be required to be belted in their own airline seats instead of being held on their parents’ laps, if the Transportation Safety Board of Canada’s latest recommendations are adopted.

“In some cases of severe turbulence, or a sudden deceleration, or an accident, parents simply can’t hang on to the baby as hard as they might try,” said Kathy Fox, chair of the Transportation Safety Board, in a telephone interview.

“That’s why they need to be in a separate seat.”

The recommendations were released this week as part of a report into a Perimeter Aviation crash in December 2012, in Sanikiluaq, Nunavut, where a 6-month-old baby, who was being held by his mother, was killed when the small turboprop overshot the runway as pilots tried to land a second time in bad weather.

If Transport Canada were to mandate the changes, it would mean every child, even those under 2, who are currently allowed to fly for free if held by parents in their arms, would need to have his or her own seat. That would likely bring higher costs for families wanting to travel by air.

The TSB report said the aircraft came in “too high, too steep, and too fast,” hitting the ground 160 meters past the end of the runway.

Isaac Appaqaq had accompanied his mother on the flight from Winnipeg, where she had a medical appointment because he was still breast-feeding. It was just three days before Christmas, and they were headed back to Sanikiluaq, a small isolated community in the Belcher Islands, in Hudson Bay.

The other six adult passengers including Isaac’s mother and two pilots, who were all secured by seatbelts, suffered injuries ranging from minor to serious.

“If the baby had been in his own seat, with a proper seat restraint system, he would have had a better chance of survival, given that everybody else survived,” said Fox.

Transport Canada encourages passengers to use an approved car seat for infants or children when travelling by air, but it is not required. Its policy is similar to other countries including the United States.

In a discussion paper issued last July, the Australian Civil Aviation Authority noted that while restraints for adults have steadily improved over the years, it has not changed for infants and young children.

However, the International Civil Aviation Organization, which is the UN agency that works with 191 member states and global aviation organizations, is looking at introducing new rules.

A group, which includes safety regulators, airlines and aircraft manufacturers, has been studying the issue of child restraints since 2013 as part of a cabin safety review, and is expected to issue guidelines next month.

ICAO spokesman Anthony Philbin said a draft of the policy recommends all occupants should have their own seats, and that child restraint systems be appropriate for a child’s height and weight.

He added that any guidance changes receive wide-ranging input from both member states and industry, so “there is generally no issue with states or airlines adhering to new requirements once they are agreed to.”

The safety board is urging Transport Canada to require commercial airliners to collect data and report on a routine basis, the number of infants and young children travelling by air, because the statistics are currently not available.

As well, the report urged Transport Canada to work with industry to develop age- and size-appropriate child restraint systems for infants and young children travelling on commercial aircraft and mandate their use to provide an equivalent level of safety compared to adults.

A spokesperson for Transport Canada said it will review the report’s recommendations and provide a formal response, due in 90 days.

Both Air Canada and WestJet said they would wait to see if Transport Canada updates any regulations.

Fox noted not all approved car seats are compatible in all aircraft seats, and airlines want quick turn around times, so installing a car seat can delay departures.

“But these shouldn’t be obstacles to doing what’s right for children,” she said, adding this could spur development of better restraint systems that may be easier to install.

While airlines offer a financial incentive to hold a child under 2 in the lap of an adult, Fox argued it is something parents will have to address, because kids are simply safer in their own seat, in an approved child restraint system.

“It’s comes down to basic physics,” she said. “Young children aren’t suitably restrained at critical times of flight, during takeoff and landing and turbulence, they are exposed to more risk.

“And that’s just not right,” Fox said, noting on her last flight, a flight attendant carefully stowed a purse under the seat, but just two rows away a baby was sitting her mother’s lap.

Alex Kelly, a spokesperson for Parachute, a national organization focused on preventing injuries and saving lives, said best practices call for an infant to be in an approved car seat.

“At Parachute, we recommend parents call ahead to the airline, make sure their car seat is approved for use in an aircraft,” she said, “and when it comes down to it, buying the extra seat, so the car seat can be installed on the airplane.”

Kelly acknowledged the financial cost, but “these are our kids, and we have to make sure they are safe when they travel.”