2009 Accident In Montana Fatally Injured 7 Children

The NTSB is once again asking the FAA to require all passengers, even those under 2 years of age, to have their own seats and seat belts. The recommendation follows a 2009 accident in which 14 people, including seven children, were fatally injured when the Pilatus PC-12 in which they were traveling went down in Montana.

The aircraft was taking members of three families to a ski vacation in Bozeman, MT, but diverted to Butte for unknown reasons. It went down in a cemetery adjacent to the city's airport. The NTSB said several of the children were found "far" from the wreckage of the aircraft, suggesting they were not properly restrained in individual seats.

Nora Marshall is chief of NTSB survival factors in aviation safety. She told The Associated Press "We strongly believe one seat, one person." The board has been making similar recommendations to the FAA for two decades, and an FAA spokeswoman said the agency will take the most recent recommendation under advisement, but has no rules changes in the works at this time.

The NTSB admits that the severity of the crash made it unlikely that anyone would have survived regardless of seat belts. But its most recent recommendation says the accident renews the boards longstanding concerns about restraints.

Under current rules, an adult may hold a child under 2 years of age on his or her lap during takeoff, landing, or turbulence. The FAA agrees that putting the child in an individual seat with its own seat belts would be safer, but says it does not want to require families to pay for the additional seat or push them onto the highways for their travel, which FAA spokeswoman Alison Duquestte says is less safe.

The NTSB disagrees with that assessment. A study put together by the Board indicates there is no "clearly defined relationship between diversion from air travel and highway accidents or injury."

FMI: www.ntsb.gov, www.faa.gov