Track: Human Factors and Ergonomics

Abstract

In a tenacious debate of airline profit versus passenger safety due to shrinking seat pitches and adding more rows in airplanes, this research is conducted to find appropriate seat measurements that allow for a brace position in a typical economy seat. In the last 40 years, airlines have been decreasing seat pitches steadily. In the 1970s, the average seat pitch is around 35 inches and currently it is around 28 inches. The distance reduction between rows of seats raises safety concerns as it can be extremely harmful during an emergency landing when passengers need to adopt the brace position but cannot due to cramped space. Bracing during an emergency landing is extremely vital in reducing impact forces on passengers as many studies showed that the brace position is necessary to increase the chances of surviving a plane crash. The purpose of this research is to use anthropometric measurements to provide airplane designers with different body dimensions needed to design appropriate and safe seating that accommodates the majority of passengers. The findings of this research provide the body dimensions at different bracing postures to ensure that the largest percentage of adults are able to perform a safe bracing position. The data was collected for a hundred male and a hundred female Saudis subjects who resides in Riyadh. The output is listed in a standard anthropometric table that can be utilized from different perspectives. It is believed that this research is the first to address the problem from an anthropometric point of view and it can be used as a base to regulate the distance between rows of seats by government agencies.