PHOENIX, AZ -- New rules go into effect Tuesday, and the FAA hopes they will save your life.
The rules require the seats on all new commercial airplanes withstand 16 g-forces, or 16 times the force of gravity. That's roughly the same amount of force you would experience by going from 30 miles per hour instantly to zero.
The FAA is requiring seats stay in place under those conditions so that passengers have a better chance of surviving.
One of the places that can actually test this kind of thing is Phoenix-based
AmSafe.
The company's warehouse in Phoenix is set up to test the safety of airline seats.
It's also where they make airplane seatbelts and airbags.
Although many fliers may not have noticed, AmSafe makes an airbag that is incorporated into the seatbelt.
It's used by many airlines, about 35, to protect passengers in what are called survivable crashes. Most often those crashes occur during takeoff and landings.
Many of the airbags are used in the seats facing the bulkhead.
During a severe, sudden stop passengers could hit their heads on the bulkhead. That's where the airbag comes in.
It deploys in 50 milliseconds, faster than a blink of the eye. The idea is that passengers will survive the airline crash by not hitting their head on the bulkhead, and are then able to leave their seat and get away from the plane.
AmSafe's director of research and development, Tom Barth says, "There are some seats on the airplane where it's difficult to meet the modern safety regulations, and so for some of these seat positions, they can use an airbag to improve occupant safety during a survivable crash."
This latest FAA rule has nothing to do with airbags, just that seats remain in place under 16g conditions.
Airbags were approved for use in planes by the FAA in 2001. AmSafe says 14 lives have been saved by the use of airbags on what are called 'general aviation flights,' typically smaller non-commercial flights.
