I've flown plenty of times in commercial aircraft, and the flights rarely surprise me. A recent Delta from LAX to Orlando gave me more seatbelt announcements in one trip than I've had in every other flight combined. It wasn't even rough. And then it got me thinking about a habit of mine that a few of you keep pulling me up on.
The ride was fine. A few bumps, nothing worse than KK on a gusty day at Elstree. But the crew were clearly taking no chances. Seatbelt Sign on, off, on again, and more unusually the captain was back on the intercom every few minutes. I lost count past twenty.
Fly BA or Virgin and you are lucky to get a reminder at the start, then it goes quiet unless it turns really nasty. Delta ran the full commentary throughout the flight. I'm not complaining, and I back safety on an airliner completely, but please fly the plane rather than spending all your time on the intercom! Remember aviate, navigate, communicate. But there's a difference between keeping people safe and sheer volume. My hunch is the US litigation culture, where anything will result in a claim against someone....or something.
On the subject of seatbelts, I do manage to cause a few issues on my YouTube channel. I always wear the lap belt. The shoulder harness I tend to leave off, because I like to move around, reach things, turn to check for traffic. I find it uncomfortable and a major distraction, not something you want in a cockpit. It is a calculated personal choice. There is no legal requirement.
We've been here before. I'm old enough to remember when car seatbelts were up for debate, before the law landed in 1983. Yes I am that old. The argument against them was you'd be trapped, that you needed to get out in a crash.
My decisions were made when I started to fly, the harnesses were never really enforced and I got into a habit. I am now a lot lighter in the cockpit so I think I might re-address this. After all, no one wants to prise my teeth out of the dashboard. I tell myself that in the event of trouble I would click the shoulder harness on, but then, is that not just adding one extra complexity in a stressful situation? Can I wear the shoulder strap and treat it as something to be tightened up in the event of an issue, as airline pilots do for landings and take-off? I'm not thinking of the levels of Helga's house of pain as experienced by Rockhound in Armageddon, but I have flown at the opposite end as well.
I went up in an Extra once, and there's video to prove it, including me ending up a delicate shade of green. In the Extra you are ratcheted in until you're part of the airframe, and mine still wasn't quite tight enough. We rolled inverted and I shifted. Even the best harness only works snug.
Because just because we've always done it that way doesn't mean we always should. We never stop learning, and this is one lesson I'd rather not learn the hard way. So next flight, I'll wear the strap. Two hundred and thirty hours of "off" won't undo itself overnight, and I'll forget. But you start somewhere. And before anyone spots it off in the next video, remember flights don't go out in the order they're flown. Watch this space.
Harness the whole flight, or just the bits that bite? We shall see..
