Safety Committee Notes

View From The Chair

By John Grace

Jumpseat Harnesses:

Your Best Chance Of Survival

One of the most critical pieces of safety equipment in any aircraft is the restraint system at crew member stations, such as the flight attendant jumpseat. While we commonly check our jumpseats for retraction and stowage, how much attention do we give to the harness? A few seconds spent examining the wear and tear on the harness webbing may just save your life!

Our members have recently reported that numerous jumpseat harnesses show alarming amounts of frayed webbing, causing the buckles to be very difficult to operate. Additionally, flight attendants report that many harnesses show small cuts, holes, and contamination from spilled liquids such as glycol.

The Safety Committee urges you to check your harness carefully on every preflight, and notify your Captain when you question the safety of your harness. In the event of severe turbulence, an incident, or an accident, this harness webbing is the only thing keeping you from becoming flying debris.

The following information has been provided by Amsafe, the manufacturer of seat and harness restraints installed on every American Eagle aircraft, from the CRJ to the Saab and ATR. To print an original copy of these manufacturer's guidelines on Amsafe letterhead, please visit: AMSAFE

Webbing Wear
Slight wear of the webbing is permitted. However, excessive web wear that has progressed to cut or worn edges must be replaced, as described below.

Examine webbing for signs of the following:
∙ Cut or worn edges
∙ Damaged stitching
∙ Broken fabric threads
∙ Tearing
∙ Excessive chafe marks
∙ Excessive wear
∙ Excessive fusing

Replace webbing if any of the following are observed:
∙ A limited amount of “frayed” webbing will retain sufficient strength necessary to meet the required strength. Frayed webbing is defined as broken filaments from either the warp (longitudinal) yarns or the filler (transverse) yarns. The number of broken filaments should not be sufficient to obscure the identity of any yarn when viewed from a distance of about 8 inches.
∙ Any web that is cut or torn on the edge should be replaced.
∙ The amount of fray should be limited to an amount that is less than 10% of the width of the webbing and not to exceed 8 inches in length.
∙ Webbing with more than 15 broken yarns in locations other than the edge.
∙ Webbing that is frayed or distorted sufficiently to cause improper operation of any portion of the restraint system.
∙ A total of 15 stitches can be torn in a stitch pattern before the webbing needs replacement.