It was horrifying enough for anyone when a door plug popped off an Alaska Airlines flight at more than 16,000 feet last year, causing an explosive decompression. But one mother’s nightmare was particularly acute, as she thought she lost her baby out of the gaping hole in the side of the plane.
It’s an unimaginable horror, and one that safety regulators could have prevented by requiring that parents secure infants on board planes in a car seat, as they must be when riding in a car.
But despite years of calls for just such a rule, none exists.
Testimony this week at the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board hearing into the incident, and transcripts of interviews with flight attendants conducted by NTSB investigators that were released this week, tell of the panic aboard the flight.
Passengers’ clothing was ripped off, and their phones were blown out of their hands and sent hurtling into the night by the by the rush of air that accompanied the rapid decompression. The flight attendants weren’t sure whether they had lost any of the passengers until the plane had landed.
Initially, they weren’t even sure if the pilots were conscious or in need of medical attention themselves due to problems communicating between the cabin and cockpit.
But among the flight attendants’ most serious concerns were the three infants on the flight who were being held on their parents’ laps, not in a car seat. And one of those parents, a mother, told flight attendants during the incident that she had lost her son and believed he had been blown outside the plane.
“I was holding her, I said, ‘What’s going on, what’s happening?’ and she just says, ‘I was holding my son and I think my son blew out the window,'” one of the flight attendants told NTSB investigators, according to a transcript of the interview. “And that’s when I lift up my head and saw the hole and I just started like shaking.”
“I didn’t know at that point that that mom was freaking out because she thought her son went out the window,” another flight attendant told investigators.
Fortunately, the child had not gone out the hole, although the transcripts from the NTSB did not detail where the child was during the incident or give the name of the mother involved. The plane was able to land within minutes without any serious physical injuries to the 177 people on aboard, including the three infants.
Among the NTSB’s recommendations following the conclusion of its investigation this week was to once again suggest that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) require passengers ages two and younger have their own seats to protect them. The NTSB does not have the power to make such a requirement. It has been asking the FAA, which is the federal regulator that sets such regulations, for such a rule for decades.
Even if parts don’t often fall off planes mid-flight, infants on planes are at risk of being thrown from their parents’ arms by far more common turbulence, which can occur without warning.
One NTSB investigator testified Tuesday about incidents in which infants were injured during severe turbulence, in one instance landing a few rows behind the child’s mother in an empty row.
“I’ve long believed that parents of lap children do not fully realize the serious risk to which they’re exposing their young children,” NTSB board member Thomas Chapman said at the hearing. “The experts agree that the safest place for an infant is secured in their own seat. If there’s turbulence or worse, you may not be able to protect your baby in your arms.”
Chapman said the NTSB has been pushing for a rule requiring infants be secured in a seat but that “we just have not been able to persuade FAA that this is an area where they should take action.”
An advisory to airlines posted on the FAA’s website advises that the agency “does not require but, because of the safety benefits thereof, does encourage the use of approved child/infant seats aboard aircraft.”
When CNN asked about the lack of a rule, the FAA said in a statement: “The FAA takes NTSB recommendations seriously and will carefully consider those issued yesterday.” The statement added: “The safest place for a child under age two is an approved child-restraint system or device, not an adult’s lap. This can go a long way in keeping children safe during a flight.”
But there may be a more intricate calculus involved for the FAA.
An agency spokesperson told CNN it is concerned that requiring parents to buy an extra seat for plane travel will lead more of them to drive to their destinations.
And the agency believes that would create a greater risk to the children and parents, since flying is a much safer method of transportation than driving.
Airlines also likely worry about lost revenue from more parents opting to drive instead.
Airlines for America, the industry trade group, did not directly address whether or not there should be a rule requiring infants to have their own seat in a statement.
“The safety of all passengers and crew members is always the top priority of U.S. airlines, which is why we follow federal laws and strictly comply with the guidance and rules established by our safety regulator, the FAA,” the group said.
Sara Nelson, president of the world’s largest flight attendants union, the Association of Flight Attendants, told CNN that a rule requiring car seats for infants on planes is long overdue. The union has been pushing for such a rule for more than 30 years, she added.
In the past, when planes were not as full, parents and flight attendants could often find an empty seat on the plane to place a child seat, Nelson said. But that’s not the case any longer.
“It’s unfortunate that we’ve turned our backs on the safety of people who can’t speak up,” Nelson said. “We know that it (a car seat) is the most safe, and that it is unsafe to hold your child in a critical incident or an incident of turbulence.”
She said it’s not necessary for a child to stay in the car seat through an entire flight, the way they are during an entire car trip. But during critical moments – during take off, landing and when the pilot warns of turbulence, an infant should be in a car seat.
“If you hit clear air turbulence and the plane suddenly drops thousands of feet, no loving parent can hold onto their child in a situation like that,” she said.
But Nelson and some safety experts accused the FAA of putting airline profits over safety.
“The NTSB has one job, and that’s to improve safety. They’re not concerned about the financial impact,” said Anthony Brickhouse, a crash investigator and US-based aerospace safety consultant. “The FAA looks at safety, but they also look at the financial impact. Safety and money have been in conflict since the beginning of time. And if you want to know the reasons for anything they do, follow the money.”
Brickhouse said if the lap babies had been in or near row 26, where the door plug blew off, they likely would have be lost.
“Why is it that you’re required to be buckled in a car, but mommy and daddy can hold you on a flight?” he said. “You would think this close call could move the needle. It’s frustrating to think we need to get tragedy to get change.”
