Show — r"'"g""""""''"""'''""l'"a"''M''""""" 4' II Itts70011111111111M s N)t oo'" - z-fo : - ' k '" V i kc I ' ' 1 ' I 4 i '' : "'' :':- ' ' i' t ' I ls 7:1 4 - - I I 'I - : ' ' i L A- w '') ( ' - i-- 1 1 i II - v - 1 c - --- - - '11 Military Mr Transport Service TTI C-9- 0 7 i 1 transport h conventional in every respect but one: passengers sit facing the rear Report below tells why TEST SATE LOUES G'v'tW How can we reduce air fatalities? Safety experts believe they have an amazing answer WESTOVER FIELD Mass suit to have wondered you'az this: giant airliners are be - trouble aloft isn't there sous to ThIT get them mtt ol the sky without killing passengers and crew? So far as we all know the answer Is all too often But right now safety experts throughout the nation have their Boeing eyes on a shiny new transport assigned by the Military Air Transport Service (MATS) to this important Air Force Base In it many of these experts believe we may find at least a partial a answer to the tragic casualty that follow many plane smashup& Outwardly the MATS airliner looks like any other But inside there's a simple but remarkable face rlAt leas-tat C-- 97 - wards - an easy trick like lily changing the direction of seats help should forado sos roc test 111931 save Um In air crailles? MATS engineers have a persuasive answer They point out: s Crash Impact rather than fire causes most deaths in plane accidents Scientific tests have already shown that prevention of crash injuries is SD times as Important as fire prevention in saving lives It Our Bodies Can Take 2 Our bodies ant resist tremen- dous forces-b- ut only if were lying or sitting against some broad supporting surface like a seat back Hugh DeHaven of Cornell Urdversity has found that the forces loosed in crash landings can definitely be withstood If the bode Is properly ds!ipporfed 3 ir12allyo safety experts to experiment with Boeing transport which has already made four round-tri- p flights from here to Rhein-Mai- n airport at Frankfort Dermany "The extra support given by the back of the seat may mean the difference between a major or a minor even between life and Injury-- or death: says Col Robert D Forman MATS operations Meer But will air passengers stand for riding backwards — even for their own safety? MATS itself (which has a fine safety record) didn't know when it started its tests last July their 71-t- on The Passenger Response their backward flight when they fill out the comment sheets we hand them" said Lt Col Elmer Hauser of the SLATS Atlantic Division here Does this mean we may all be "flying backwards" on commercial air liners in the not too distant future? - No Changes—Yet yes num too early to say "yes" - air line officials report So far the Air Transport Association says there are no plans at all to change the design of commercial indeed airliners Instead research is centering on better safety harness and firmer attachment for conventionally-pseats laced the experiment is beevwzmts of since The new watched plenty ing carefully ye i1 dence has piled up to sh6w simseating arrangement fortunately care very hasn't yet been tested in an actual ply this: Passengers don't mach' whether they're- - ladng the '" emergency: Bat right- - now it's the front or the rear of the plane best hope we have of saving more lives in air crashes "Passengers seldom remark on Yet MATS TRZ if 'a passenger can the first moment after a crash he has a good chance of escaping before the plane bums These factors hare led MATS liir paamos rebthadat PP1 lookalaa SW Talk - lit L 1 All I - liameald Oder laimattaaga sad Pas Asmara& j might Oaaa Imam& - - 1 |