Originally Posted by
N9373M
NBC news reported tonight that some of the economy pax suffered spinal fractures or cord injuries. They added that the First Class (or Biz, cant' remember) pax had a 3 point shoulder belt and walked away.
One Dr. was quoted as saying that 3 of the 4 people he treated for spinal injuries probably would not have had them with the shoulder harness.
Personally, I think 3 point shoulder should be mandatory, but it all comes down to money.
Thoughts?
My first thought is that the Dr. should stick to medicine, and let the accident investigators do their job.
My second thought is that the severity of the injuries probably correlates to the proximity of the passenger's seat to the tail of the airplane.
Originally Posted by
cardiomd
So the report of less injuries up front is not surprising, however, with the tailstrike it also may be just that the individuals up front had less G forces when the plane flopped down again in a nose high attitude.
The plane was never in a nose high attitude after the initial impact. What you see "flopping down" shortly before the airplane stopped was the tail. The "witness marks" on the runway and off to the side show the nose gear was in continuous contact with the runway or dirt from about the threshold until its travel stopped about 1,700' later. As the airplane rotated about 345 degrees counter-clockwise, the right wing and tail lifted up in the air. At one point, the tail was pointing down the runway (the airplane was travelling backwards) and about 40 feet in the air -- still, the nose gear was on the ground. When the tail finally slammed down, it should come as no surprise that the people seated farther aft would incur the greater injuries, regardless of the restraints they were using. The ruptured pressure bulkhead, the fractured fuselage under the aftmost seats and doors, and the aftmost left door being ripped off the airplane in the impact show how severe that impact was felt in the back of the airplane. The folks in front (in business class, with the shoulder harnesses) would have felt very little impact from that final drop of the tail.
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