A Weighty Problem

[David Pyle]

There is a solution. Will power.

There is a recent NYT article pointing out that airlines have not addressed the problem of crash safety and obesity. Seat and belt standards are for 170 pound men and 146 pound women. Average men are now 196 and women, well, you know what you weigh. So much for commercial travel. AmSafe is the leading airline belt supplier and they refused comment.

The FAA is looking into the private aircraft standards. By comparison our restrains are flimsy. If AmSafe certifies air bags for Comanches some of us will be too heavy for them to work as planned. In addition it is not hard to imagine that our seats, designed to a 50 year old standard, may barely support us and are not crash safe for one who is seriously overweight. While I have never met an obese Comanche owner some are just 'big'.

I have lobbied for a lot of stuff. Old age flying (or not) is one thing, and weight loss for safety is the latest. Any opinions?