Me too...but...many years ago, when my wife and I were first dating, I took her for a ride in a J3 Cub, out over the beach (Hampton Beach, NH). I strapped her in myself, so I know she had her seatbelt on when we started out. It was summer so I had the door down and window clipped up to the wing, for better vis.

She had brought her camera and she was leaning out the door taking pictures of the beach, then she turns completely around in her seat and takes a picture of me.

I yell to her, "What are you doing? Tighten up your belt!"

She said, "It's too restrictive, I took it off..."

I yelled back, "ARE YOU NUTS?! PUT IT ON!!!"

I had been thinking of doing a slip so she could get better pictures, and then some wingovers or a hammerhead, glad I hadn't started doing that before she told me!

But she was not an "experienced pilot" as the two in the incident above.

I remember hearing about that back when it happened, I know the customer was a retired Delta guy, not sure about the IP, but it sounds like he was too. I remember thinking at the time,

"Hmm...dogfighting in old training airplanes, what could go wrong."

Yup, that.

I'm even surprised at how many people I fly with unbuckle the shoulder straps during flight - even if allowed by the rules. I've got too many years strapped into a seat so tight that I felt like I could barely move, but I KNOW that I would forget to buckle back up again when it came time for landing.
This mishap is just hard to hear and the thought of what the victim must have felt is terrifying.

Update:
Victim's body found after search
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/s...,3307889.story

Meh, it's on the checklist when I fly, so it's hard to forget your belt.

I don't say anything is impossible.
I once changed my habit pattern during a flight when I need to turn around further than usual to look at something near the tail in my former airplane. When I flew the hop and then returned to the line, I reached up to unbuckle the should koch fittings adnd realized that I had flown the entire post-maintenance flight without being fully strapped into the ejection seat. I never changed the habit pattern during a PMCF after that. I just closed the canopy and used the mirros to look at what I needed to see!

There are swaths of people that do not believe in using seatbelts in cars. It seems strange and totally against logic to me, but I've been exposed to such people. I didn't think it really carried over to aircraft though.

It's a shame this had to happen. On both the HH-60G and C-130 in the checklist we have the "Seat Belts, Shoulder Harnesses..." spiel in the checklist. Why any one would fly without a lap belt on at a minimum boggles my mind. Certain operations in the C-130 require me to loosen or remove my shoulder harness...I prefer to loosen them most times and tighten them back up when I don't need the mobility. I've always said that a seat belt may not save my life if the fecal matter hits the air distribution oscillator, but the accident investigator won't have to make an LOD determination because I always wear my seat belts/restraints.

Way back, I remember when the shoulder harnesses first showed up. Of course, nobody wanted to wear them, so they were added to the checklist, but still, very few wore them.

Fast fwd 30 years, it's so 'automatic' someone took it off the checklist. There is no mention of seatbelts or shoulder harnesses "ON" at Delta.

So...I guess we can go without?

I just hope my canopy doesn't pop open while I'm doing spins...without my seatbelt on.