Dynamics of Survivable Plane Crashes--RF v FF

cat mommy

New member
I'm hoping to get some info on the dynamics of airplane accidents and how this impacts FF v. RF toddlers. My kids ALWAYS RF in a car, but I've been thinking of FF on the plane. I know plane crashes are incredibly rare, and of course, some are unsurvivable, but for incidents that occur upon take off and landing, does RF a toddler make a real difference?
 
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lovemybabybug

New member
I would like to know this also. We are going on an 11 hr flight, and as much as I would unsderstand if there was a child RF behind me, I would really hate not being able to recline my seat the whole flight, so I would like to be considerate to the person in front of us if it's at all safe for my child.
 

LISmama810

Admin - CPS Technician
In a case where there were a sudden change in forward momentum (aborted takeoff, especially) there would be some benefit to rear-facing. How much? I don't know.

Personally, I'm fine forward-facing a kid over 12-18 months on a plane. Yes, takeoffs and landings can be an issue, but my bigger concern is turbulence (where RF vs FF probably doesn't make a ton of difference) and the restraining of them in general.

I'm flying in August with my daughter who will be 29 months at the time and I'm not even going to attempt to install her seat RF on the plane.
 

mimieliza

New member
If the child is the correct age/weight to FF in the convertible seat, it is fine! The odds of a plane "crash" of some sort are so incredibly minuscule. The car seat is to keep your child restrained in case the plane quickly loses altitude or hits serious turbulence. Things get tossed all over the place in that situation, I wouldn't think that RF vs. FF would really matter, the dynamics are so completely different from car crash dynamics.
 

An Aurora

Senior Community Member
I am super diligent in small planes (much higher rate of crashes and most are survivable) than I am in full size commercial jets. On big planes I am ok with FF past 1.5 or so, although I RFed my son when we flew last month. If it hadn't been convenient I would gave FFd.

Posted by a robot and susceptible to unrelated and potentially inappropriate AutoCorrects.
 

Eclipsepearl

New member
For take-off and landing, it's exactly like the car. Rfing is by far, safer.

But for the cruise portion of the flight, like the other mentioned, the "risk" is turbulence, not crashing. It's less dramatic but you can still get bumped. Of course, rf or ff would be the same.

I have turned a seat around after take-off but it was an 11 1/2 hour flight so I had plenty of time to do so!
 

vonfirmath

New member
I would like to know this also. We are going on an 11 hr flight, and as much as I would unsderstand if there was a child RF behind me, I would really hate not being able to recline my seat the whole flight, so I would like to be considerate to the person in front of us if it's at all safe for my child.

Except that reclining into a forward-facing child severely limits their space to do anything except kick the back of the chair.
 

InternationalMama

New member
Except that reclining into a forward-facing child severely limits their space to do anything except kick the back of the chair.

Yeah, and most kids will kick the back of the seat, even if accidentally. Or you will be constantly jostling it as you pick up toys that were dropped while FF. I actually think RF is sometimes more considerate to the person in front!

FWIW, Britain says they have data that says forward-facing carseats improve safety on planes, but rear-facing carseats have not been shown to improve safety for child passengers based on their testing. That's why they don't allow rear-facing seats on their flights.
 

J-max

CPST Instructor
Yeah, and most kids will kick the back of the seat, even if accidentally. Or you will be constantly jostling it as you pick up toys that were dropped while FF. I actually think RF is sometimes more considerate to the person in front!

FWIW, Britain says they have data that says forward-facing carseats improve safety on planes, but rear-facing carseats have not been shown to improve safety for child passengers based on their testing. That's why they don't allow rear-facing seats on their flights.
If I am comfortable having the child FF on the plane, I have often given the person in front of us the choice of whether they woudl like their seat to not be reclined or kicked during the flight. Also buying them a drink is often helpful ;)
 

Jan06twinmom

New member
I found that having my child rear-facing on the plane was much easier for us. My kids were able to sleep better, even though the seat was more upright than they were used to. It was also easier to interact with my children when they were rear-facing. I could look at them, talk with them, play with them, etc. When my DD was sitting ff next to me, I ended up getting a sore neck from leaning forward and turning my head towards her. That was for a 2 or 3 hr flight only!

I definitely found that we kept more toys in the seat with us when we were ff too. So many of the toys ended up on the floor with a ff seat and I had trouble getting to them.

We travel as a group of 4 - DH, me and our twins. We put DS ff in his seat in front of DD's seat that was rf. It worked well since DS didn't need to recline his seat.

Melanie
 

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