Something that can be overlooked is seat belts and shoulder harness. The shoulder harness is vital too, the belt alone isnt enough. I know of accidents that were survivable except that shoulder harness was not used. I saw Craig Hoskins hit the ground in a PITTS at 110 mph at the bottom of a loop and walk away since he had full safety harness, his helmet had a dent in the front that could have been critical without it. I know of a less violent impact from a too low loop that the pilot didnt survive since he only had the seat belt and his head hit the panel.
We just had 2 auto wrecks that show that you need belts to have any chance. 3 fatalities at a rural intersection in fog, only 35 mph impact but no belts worn, a Mom and 2 kids.
We had a horrible accident here just outside town, a man pulled his SUV onto the highway in front of a bus going 55 mph with no time to swerve or stop. The impact was so violent it knocked the car all the way through the guard rail, breaking off the supports and the bus went into the ditch 50 yards on. The Kia was crumpled and wrinkled all over but the passenger area and roof were still intact. Both adults had seat belts and the lady in the passenger seat away from the impact survived with injuries. Most important the 5 year old son of the driver was in a car seat in the back survived, was walking afterward. Its not known why the man pulled out, may have had the sun in his eyes or just tried to beat the bus across.
We spend more time driving than flying, so belts for all are so critical in cars, not to even mention planes. And most of all car seats for all kids, no exceptions, we used car seats on the airlines every time for my boys when they were young. At first I got some resistance from the stewardesses but persistence won. If you show your kids a good example belt use will become automatic for them. It just so easy to wear belts and such cheap insurance if its needed. There are now air bags the can be fitted into the control wheel of some planes. I wear a helmet in warbirds and a chute and in anything I m doing acro in. Not likely to need it everyday,. but like a lifeboat on the Titanic if you need it you really need it. And I sure wear a helmet on any motorcycle.We think or hope that an accident in our planes is unlikely, but if it does happen we dont have all the safety construction features of a modern car, and our impact is likely to be at least at highway speed, that is 60 mph or above for my Bonanza.And in a plane you are trying to control you impact speed in both dimensions, that is forward and down.
