Transport Canada has issued a revised advisory circular with a renewed emphasis on wearing shoulder harnesses. The information has been added to AC 605-005 in response to a Canadian Transportation Safety Board (TSB) analysis of more than 60 general aviation accidents in which shoulder harnesses were not being worn.
From 1990 to 2018, the TSB determined, harnesses were not being worn by at least one occupant in 62 accidents that resulted in a total of 68 fatalities. Thirty-seven of those 68 victims were aircraft occupants who had not been wearing the available shoulder harness. “The use of shoulder harnesses could have improved the occupants' chances of survival and egress,” concluded the TSB.
The AC acknowledged that crew and passengers in some aircraft are not wearing shoulder harnesses because they interfere with reaching the controls or are uncomfortable and unmanageable, particularly in some helicopter operations that require crewmembers to twist in their seats to view outside. To address these issues, the AC noted, aircraft owners can install inertia reel shoulder harnesses that allow for greater freedom of movement and reduce the likelihood of occupants unfastening them during flight. The AC also noted that some helicopter models have the capability to be retrofitted with crew seats that can swivel.