TSB recommends child safety measures to airlines

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada is calling upon commercial airlines to take steps toward making air travel safer for children, following the board’s investigation into an infant’s death in a 2012 crash landing.

In a report released yesterday, the TSB recommended that Transport Canada require commercial air carriers to collect data, and report on a routine basis, the number of infants and young children travelling, statistics which are not currently available, the TSB said.

The board also requested that Transport Canada work with industry to develop age and size appropriate child restraint systems for infants and young children travelling on commercial aircraft and mandate their use to provide an equivalent level of safety compared to adults.

The recommendations follow the conclusion of the TSB’s investigation into Perimeter Aviation Flight 993, which crashed while landing in Sanikiluaq, Nunavut, on Dec. 22, 2012. A lap-held infant, not restrained by any device or seatbelt, was fatally injured in the incident, which the TSB said took place after the aircraft came in "too high, too steep, and too fast," striking the ground 525 feet past the end of the runway after an unsuccessful attempt to reject the landing. According to the TSB, two crew and six adult passengers, secured by their seatbelts, only suffered injuries ranging from minor to serious.