Why you always keep your seat belt fastened

wwillson

wwillson

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When I fly, my seat belt is fastened if I'm in my seat. I took this picture from my front yard about 5 minutes after the jet flew over the mountains. Behind me it was still making a clean contrail as it flew to the east. This is a great example of turbulence. The FAA defines turbulence as irregular motion of the air that causes random, unpredictable changes in an aircraft’s altitude, attitude, or airspeed.

Keep your seat belts fastened.

IMG_2881.webp
 
even if my flight is 15 hours, my seat belt will be fastened for 15 hours. but there are planes that can manage turbulence much better than others. the Airbus A380 is the best for turbulence comfort, but the worse for Wake Turbulence. it is Category Super J. d'ont follow closely with another plane. the only other plane that was similar in it's turbulence capability was the Antonov An-225 Mriya.
 
My story was in my 1973 Plymouth Road Runner....I was driving from Shaw AFB SC on a little drive and about 10 miles down the road I decided to fasten my seat belt....about 3 miles after that a car crossed the centerline and hit me almost head on around 40 mph...It totaled my car but I was not hurt...If I had not put on my seat belt it could have been much worse....
 
stormgol said:
even if my flight is 15 hours, my seat belt will be fastened for 15 hours. but there are planes that can manage turbulence much better than others. the Airbus A380 is the best for turbulence comfort, but the worse for Wake Turbulence. it is Category Super J. d'ont follow closely with another plane. the only other plane that was similar in it's turbulence capability was the Antonov An-225 Mriya.
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Supposedly Boeing 757/767 caused significant wake turbulence due to the wing design. Not sure what specifically caused it
 
I was in a head-on back in the early 90's when some meathead in a pickup decided to cross the double yellow and pass cars on a 35 mph two lane near my house. Lucky for me he decided to veer over into the ditch rather than hit full on, and I plowed into his right quarter, flattening my pristine red Rx7 all the way back to the strut towers. How I wasnt killed is beyond me. Idiot me wasnt wearing a belt and my torso plowed into the steering wheel, my head smashed into the windshield and broke the rearview mirror clean off. One of the cops was looking in my car and asked what hit the windshield to break the mirror... I said my face. He said how could you have hit the windshield with a belt on? I said because I wasnt wearing it. He had to have been ex-military because the verbal lashing he gave me in front of all the onlookers scared me every bit as much as the accident itself. My face and every muscle in my body hurt so bad I could barely move. I remember very clearly his many years later what it felt like to plow into the windshield and I've been wearing a belt every since that day, whether flying or driving. It was a very tough way to learn what should have been a very obvious lesson in physics.
 
I'm surprised it isn't a law in the airline industry, enforced by the FAA. Especially today, living in a country that is totally overpopulated with lawyers. You can get a ticket for driving your car without having your seatbelt fastened in 49 states. (The only exception being New Hampshire).

But it's OK to travel 7 miles above the Earth at 550 MPH without doing the same. As they say, common sense isn't all that common in today's world.
 
billt460 said:
I'm surprised it isn't a law in the airline industry, enforced by the FAA. Especially today, living in a country that is totally overpopulated with lawyers. You can get a ticket for driving your car without having your seatbelt fastened in 49 states. (The only exception being New Hampshire).

But it's OK to travel 7 miles above the Earth at 550 MPH without doing the same. As they say, common sense isn't all that common in today's world.
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It is a law. A regulation.

Compliance with all crew member instructions, including fastening seatbelts, is required.

But the only enforcement taken by the FAA is against the crews, not the passengers.

Without enforcement, the regulation is widely ignored.
 
Astro14 said:
It is a law. A regulation.

Compliance with all crew member instructions, including fastening seatbelts, is required.

But the only enforcement taken by the FAA is against the crews, not the passengers.

Without enforcement, the regulation is widely ignored.
Click to expand...

They why do they, (crew members), turn OFF the seat belt sign when airborne, if it's a regulation to keep them on at all times? What am I not getting here?
 
billt460 said:
They why do they, (crew members), turn OFF the seat belt sign when airborne, if it's a regulation to keep them on at all times? What am I not getting here?
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I believe the law is to follow the order of the flight attendants/capt when they determine it is not safe enough at the moment to be unbuckled.

I normally wear mine unless I'm about to get up and walk a bit. They aren't even uncomfortable for the most part.
 
When the sign is on the passengers are supposed to stay in their seats with belts on the whole time. This is the case for takeoff, landing, and if turbulence is likely. When it is off they can get up to go to the bathroom etc, but the rule remains belt on while seated.

The icon should be something along the lines of "sit down and stay there" rather than a seat belt.
 
Last edited:
billt460 said:
They why do they, (crew members), turn OFF the seat belt sign when airborne, if it's a regulation to keep them on at all times? What am I not getting here?
Click to expand...
Because nobody can fly for 16 hours from London to Singapore with everybody buckled the entire time.

Human physiology does not allow that. On an airplane with 200 people, at any given moment, somebody has to go to the bathroom.

In fact, given my experience, staying seated for even 10 minutes, is not possible for some people.

People jump up and get out of their seats to go to the restroom whenever they feel like it. Not realizing that their selfish action impacts the ability of thousands to depart on time. When they get up, I have to stop, which means all the airplanes behind me have to stop, and we all wait for that person.

It happened twice just last week. On the ground in Los Angeles, in one of the most dangerous places in the world, which is between runway is 25 left and 25 right.

Unable to move the airplane while they were out of their seat, we had to sit between those two runways for an extra 10 minutes while the airport managed departures.

As a result, we were a few minutes late at the gate.

So part of my admonition, and my welcome aboard announcement, is that you keep your seatbelt fastened while you are seated.

Because, common sense is an uncommon virtue.
 
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