Aviat Aircraft Co-Ventures With Am-Safe To Develop An Inflatable Restraint System

Airbag technology has demonstrated its effectiveness in saving lives in car crashes, prompting Aviat Aircraft and AM-SAFE, of Phoenix, to joint venture an effort to bring the technology to general aviation aircraft.

The objective is to integrate an airbag into the five-point harnesses that are currently installed in all Aviat aircraft. That way, the airbag would deploy forward instead of rearward as they do in automobiles.

"Developing the sensors that will trigger release of the airbag is the real challenge in this project," said Aviat President Stu Horn.

"Our engineers, in working with AM-SAFE, which has already developed restraint systems for commercial aircraft, are making significant progress and should generate some new, effective technology in the short term.  It's an area of safety we can no longer ignore."

Aviat would like to offer airbags in their Husky, Pup, Pitts Special and Eagle aircraft.

"There are rare times when a five-point harness just isn¹t enough," said Horn, "and we believe that airbags, especially a model that expands forward, instead of hitting you in the face, is in everyone's best interest."

FMI: www.aviataircraft.com