tudy Recommends Installing Air Bags on Private Planes

Federal air-safety investigators on Tuesday are slated to issue the first formal government nonbinding recommendations for installing air bags to save lives in private-plane accidents. The National Transportation Safety Board's groundbreaking study, according to people familiar with the details, is expected to outline the benefits of air bags in reducing fatalities and injuries when small aircraft crash. After assessing the performance of air bags in roughly two dozen such accidents over three years, they said, the safety board has agreed to call for more widespread use of air-bag technology on private planes. These planes typically carry less than half a dozen people, but some models can carry several more. Board members also appear ready to push for faster adoption of air bags on business aircraft, although that poses greater industry and operator hurdles. The study "looks favorably upon air bags" and staffers "are going to advocate for their use," according to Joseph Kolly, head of the board's office of research and engineering. Based on the study, the five-member board is poised to issue wide-ranging recommendations covering both newly manufactured and older models, according to people familiar with the matter. The safety board, which makes nonbinding recommendations, isn't expected to call for federal mandates for stepped-up air-bag deployment. Instead the board wants voluntary compliance. Only the Federal Aviation Administration has authority to mandate safety improvements. With approximately 1,600 general aviation accidents claiming roughly 500 lives each year across the U.S., experts believe many more crashes would be survivable with the help of air-bag technology. In an interview Monday, Mr. Kolly said air-bags provide "an opportunity to drive those [fatality] numbers down," adding that the safety board is in a good position "to make judgments about the technology" and its future applications. The majority of new general aviation models, including Cessna and Cirrus aircraft, already feature air bags that typically deploy from shoulder harnesses. In addition, the devices can be purchased as optional factory-installed equipment on many other models. The cost is around $2,000 total for installation on the two front seats. But in light of the huge existing fleet of older planes, overall less than 5% of the roughly 200,000 currently registered U.S. private aircraft have air bags. And those all stem from voluntary efforts by manufacturers and other groups. To accelerate installation of the devices—which have been embraced at a faster rate by airlines as a result of federal mandates—the board and other safety experts are now stepping up efforts emphasizing the importance of retrofitting private planes. Retrofits are more expensive, and so far private pilots generally have been slow to purchase the upgrades for older aircraft. Historically, safety-board members have been leery of the cost of calling for sweeping federal mandates affecting general aviation. Closely held AmSafe industries Inc., the primary supplier of air bags for general aviation, business jets and airliners, has sold about 19,000 air-bag devices for general aviation. Bill Hagan, the Phoenix-based company's president, said the uptake over just a few years "is a testament to the lifesaving benefit this technology offers" for pilots and passengers alike. Drawing parallels to the steady progression of safety enhancements in the automotive industry, Mr. Hagan said in an interview that buying a private plane in some ways is comparable to choosing a car. "You wouldn't buy one if it didn't have air bags," he said, and soon private pilots and airline passengers "will expect the same."