Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 23, 1990 TAG: 9005230264
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Short
"All objects must be secured during takeoff and landing, including coffee pots and luggage," said board chairman James Kolstad. "And yet infants, our precious children, are not."
The proposal, approved 4-0 by the NTSB, does not deal with who will provide the seats or whether children will pay fares. But if such a regulation takes effect, airlines are expected to require that parents generally lug along an infant seat - like the ones required in cars - and buy a ticket if they want to be guaranteed passage for the child.
When planes aren't full, the airlines are expected to continue to allow infants to fly at no charge.
The recommendation now goes to the Federal Aviation Administration which has resisted a mandatory rule on the grounds that the 5,000 to 10,000 youngsters under 2 years old who fly in adults' laps each day are not at great risk. The FAA is not required to follow NTSB recommendations and sometimes doesn't.
Under the NTSB proposal, parents who arrive at the gate of a fully booked flight with an unticketed baby would not be allowed to take the child aboard. They also could be denied passage with any small child, with or without ticket, if they are not carrying an approved car seat.
The FAA has said it will consider mandatory restraints but has proposed only to require that airlines allow seats on board if passengers choose to use them - a practice now followed by most airlines.
by CNB