Hi All Q-Folks!
Where do I sign? Check this out....
Not long ago I was on a flight where I was able to see how commercial aircraft
seats are attached in planes. As a preface, let me remind everyone how
recently several carriers began offering "more leg room" in coach class seats.
Well, how did they do that so easily and evenly throughout an entire plane?
Well, golly... That's what I found out!! These "super secure" seats that meet
stringent FAA Safety Regulations are held in place by the same types of
adjustable in-floor metal strips that are used by Q-Straint... one of the most
popular vehicle tie-down systems. It's those in-floor strips that belts can be
locked into (or removed from) to allow people in wheelchairs to use a lot of
paratransit vans, busses and/or taxis.
THAT is what holds an airplane seat in place and THAT is how airlines were able
to easily adjust all of their coach seats to provide an extra 5" leg room for
everyone!
If any petition is being passes around for actual signatures, it should
certainly include all the airline staff and flight attendants who get to do all
the extra work or see all the extra problems first-hand. My last flight
included two flight attendants who were adamant that I be removed from the
plane safely. The ground crew wanted me put in an aisle chair to be carried
down steep steps to the tarmac. The flight attendants refused and fought try
to get the plane to a terminal with a jetway!
All along they kept saying it would be SO MUCH easier for everyone if they
would just allow wheelchairs in the flight cabin. They agreed even more when I
told them how my wheelchair was dropped from cargo bin (destroyed) 4 years ago.
It can be done. And the airline personnel most closely involved would like it
to be done. But the big "bottom line" folks seem to think it would cost too
much.
(And A Quick Note on That:
In just ONE year, just that one airline that dropped my chair paid out
approximately $250,000 in repairs & replacements to damaged equipment PLUS an
$800,000 fine for not properly complying with transport rules in handling
chairs and adaptive equipment. And that doesn't count lost suits and
settlements from damage and/or injury!!)
So... if anybody was questioning tghe difficulty, there's some facts. And just
from a practicle point of view just think... They can make a 747 or a C-130
takeoff and fly!!! And they fly up and down for 40 years. Do you really think
adding a movable seat is beyond their safety and engineering abilities?
Best to ALL!
--Tod
---- "John S." <[email protected]> wrote:
> Over the years the airlines have refused to position the seats facing the
> back. This little trick would have saved thousands of lives. I can"t see them
> installing lock downs for chairs that no engineer has even thought about
> placing in an airplane. I'm pretty certain the best chair I own would come
> apart like wicker furniture in a tornado if it and I experienced a 10G stop.
> Placing a crippled person nearest the exit isn't going to pass muster with
> the NTSB, either.
> The logical place for us to fly in our wheelchairs is most likely where they
> place animals. I personnaly want to fly inside a black box.
>
> BW,
> john
>
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> ________________________________
> From: Dan <[email protected]>
> To: [email protected]
> Sent: Wednesday, September 30, 2009 6:56:03 PM
> Subject: [QUAD-L] Air Carriers Access Act
>
>
> Seventeen-year-old girl petitions airlines for wheelchair accessibility
> (eTurboNews)
> >Sally O'Neill is a 17-year-old girl with cerebral palsy, and all she wants
> >when she flies is to be able to remain in her own wheelchair. Sally is
> >circulating a petition calling on the airline industry to modify the first
> >seat in the first row to allow passengers with disabilities using
> >wheelchairs to remain in their own wheelchairs during flight.
> Dan
>
>
>
