PART TWO: Aero-TV Looks At The AmSafe Aviation
Inflatable Restraint
As we noted in the first part of this report, ya have to have to
hand it to the folks at AmSafe -- aviation safety is a tough gig to
pursue, and even tougher when you're thinking "out of the box."
AmSafe has done just that... with a novel new way to incorporate
air bag technologies into a somewhat conventional lapbelt... making
installation and certification a far less strenuous affair than an
integrated airframe solution. In 1997, AmSafe reports that it
developed the first aviation airbag restraint system, which took
its first flight in 2001, and is now flying on more than 25
commercial airlines and on over eighty-percent of the new GA
fleet.
Deliberately designed to protect the head and torso of pilot
and/or their passengers, the AAIR (AmSafe Aviation Inflatable
Restraint) airbag restraint system looks like a "fat" seatbelt and
operates in the exact same manner... until deployed in a
significant impact. Continuing with its innovations, in 2006 AmSafe
received the first FAA approval for a child restraint system
designed specifically for use on airplanes during all phases of
flight.
The technology is catching on with GA... a surprisingly tough
industry to sell when it comes to safety items. As much as the GA
world likes to tout safety programs and concerns, they're loath to
pay for it unless the value becomes irrefutable. The vast majority
of current general aviation aircraft are now being built and
equipped with the AAIR system -- offering protection against impact
with glare shields, instrument panels and control yokes... while
still allowing the assembly to meet the 26g requirement for pilot
and co-pilot seats. AmSafe restraints are now standard equipment
for Aviat, S/E Cessnas, Hawker Beechcraft Corporation, Cirrus
Design, Diamond, Mooney, Maule, Bell Helicopter Textron, Robinson
Helicopter, and Schweizer aircraft.
At the 2007 AOPA Expo, Aero-TV had a chance to get up close and
personal with the AAIR... even throwing staffer Alex Manning into
the "hot seat" to try this technology out for ourselves. Alex
survived the event without a hitch, while the rest of us got a very
interesting interview about one of the most intriguing safety
technologies to prove itself in the last decade.
Aero-TV Checks Out AmSafe's
AAIR!
About Aero-TV: It's DEFINITELY Show
Time!!!!
OK, folks, here we go... we are NOW initiating the first
feature programming series for Aero-TV... we're going to take it
slow, but we're also going to try and be steady about this. DO
UNDERSTAND that this is the most complex media program we've ever
undertaken and what you're seeing is just the tip of the iceberg...
but from here on out, we will be doing our best to educate,
inform, and entertain YOU about all aspects of the exciting worlds
of aviation and aerospace.
If you've been an observer of the media and associated media
industries over the last few years, it's not hard to mistake the
fact that a massive revolution is taking place. Old sources for
news and information are falling by the wayside, having to change
their modus operandi or risk obsolescence (or extinction).
Electronic media and print media are both under the assault of
progress, and the online world has been a cornerstone for
revolutionary change.
We've been ready to go for a while, but to be honest, there's so
much more to this program than we've alluded to, and so we've been
building and planning a massive new organization within ANN. That
said, we're hiring talented new people as
fast as we can find them (a far more difficult
task than we had imagined -- REALLY good people are hard to find),
and we're brainstorming at speeds that would make a deorbiting
Space Shuttle feel like a slug. Suffice it to say that we wanted to
do this right, rather than right-now, and that the development of
this program has been the most carefully pursued undertaking we've
ever undertaken.
E-I-C Note: The
complete feature shown above is embedded in this
story, with most of the slick and useful functionality
otherwise available on the main Aero-TV
site (which will be upgraded aggressively
over the next few weeks). The ability to embed a video on
another web page is but one of the hundreds of amazing little
features that we've worked hard on, for many months now, to
implement in different phases of the initial release of
Aero-TV. It is, BY NO MEANS, the only way to enjoy unaltered
Aero-TV programming on other parts of the web... as we have
extensive plans for future functionality, but this feature
allows those with an interest in a specific Aero-TV News or Feature
program to embed it on a different web site, though we must
note that we reserve the right to forbid such use for those sites
or purposes that we do not feel fit in with the proper mission of
the Aero-News Network, Inc.
Webmasters or Administrators of well-trafficked aviation or
aerospace related sites, are welcome to contact the Publisher to
start conversations on how they may be able to leverage some of the
immense power of Aero-TV programming for their sites and
constituency by clicking the I Want Aero-TV For
MY Website! link.
Coming Soon!
Aero-TV Shows You How To Build A Glasair Sportsman
2+2 in RECORD TIME, Gets A Sobering Briefing From P.A.S.S.,
Flies The Piper Matrix, Checks Out More "HIGH" Tech at I/ITSEC
2007, Hears From AOPA On Critical Aviation Issues, Spills Some
Juicy (and HIGHLY Detailed) Cirrus G3 Info, Shoots A Clarity Aloft
Headset Profile, Shows You What "Flying The Vestimumax" Is All
About, Scores A BUNCH of LSA Reports, and SO MUCH MORE!!!!! Do
NOT Miss Them!
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