Infant flight risk remains, report
TSB board rates Transport Canada responses satisfactory
Stewart Burnett
Northern News Services
Monday, December 7, 2015
SANIKILUAQ
More work is needed to enhance safety for infants and children on aircraft, according to a report issued by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada last week.
The crash scene of Perimeter Aviation Flight 993, which crash-landed in Sanikiluaq on Dec. 22, 2012. The Transport Safety Board of Canada is still urging for more safety measures for infants and young children on aircraft. - photo courtesy of the Transportation Safety Board |
The board rated Transport Canada's responses to its two recommendations arising from the 2012 Sanikiluaq plane crash as "satisfactory."
The investigation follows the Dec. 22, 2012, crash of Perimeter Aviation Flight 993 in Sanikiluaq and the death of young Isaac Appaqaq, who was held in his mother's arms during the incident.
TSB's first recommendation requires commercial air carriers to collect data and report on a routine basis the number of infants and children travelling. Transport Canada, in its recently released response, indicated that is is working to find the best options for collecting data, including a stakeholder consultation to be completed by March 2016.
"The actions proposed by Transport Canada constitute a first step in the right direction," stated Joseph Hincke, member of the TSB board, in a news release.
"However, efforts to enhance safety for infants and children will continue to be delayed until more detailed information is available on emerging trends about the carriage of children aboard aircraft."
In a June 29 news conference, TSB chair Kathy Fox told reporters that "it's time to do right by our children."
"Infants are not restrained at all, and a standard adult seat belt is ill-suited for a young child," she stated. "They deserve the same level of safety. What's needed is a proper child-restraint system, one that stops the youngest on board from becoming projectiles, causing injury and possibly death to themselves or other passengers."
The second TSB recommendation called for Transport Canada to work with industry to develop age- and size-appropriate child restraint systems for young children travelling on commercial aircraft. Their use is to be mandated to provide an equivalent level of safety with adults.
Transport Canada stated that in the short term it would explore ways to increase the range of child restraint systems approved for use in aircraft. In the medium term, it aims to create an awareness campaign about the issue, and in the long term will initiate an in-depth regulatory examination.
"The Board is encouraged that Transport Canada is planning to take some short and medium term actions while initiating an in-depth review of infant and child safety aboard aircraft in the future," stated Hincke.
However, he noted that the organization has not yet identified any specific solutions to ensure that infants and young children are provided with a level of safety comparable to adults.
