In-flight upset - 154 km west of Learmonth, WA, 7 October 2008,

4.7.7 Previous seat belt useThe questionnaire asked passengers to state whether, on previous flights, theynormally wore their seat belts. The question was asked for six different activities orphases of flight, as shown in Table 36.Table 36: Passengers previous seat belt useActivityWorn, tightlyfastenedWorn, looselyfastenedNot wornTakeoff 93 2 0Meal service 54 32 8Reading, using in-flightentertainment system56 30 8Sleeping 46 42 7Descent for landing 87 8 0Landing 93 1 0All passengers reported that they wore seat belts during takeoff, descent, andlanding. Ten passengers (10% of respondents) reported that they did not normallywear their seat belts during one or more of the three cruise activities: meal service,reading/in-flight entertainment, and sleeping. All of these 10 passengers wereseated at the time of the first upset and, in terms of their seat belt use:• Two of the passengers were wearing seat belts. Both of these passengers alsoreported that they understood seat belts should be worn at all times when seated.• Eight of the passengers were not wearing seat belts. Six of these passengersreported that they understood seat belts should be worn only during takeoff,landing or when the seat-belt sign was illuminated, and the other two reportedthat it was desirable to wear seat belts when seated.A significant proportion of the questionnaire respondents (48%) reported that theynormally wore their seat belts ‘loosely-fastened’ during one or more of the cruiseactivities. The investigation had no information to help determine how loose a seatbelt was before a passenger regarded it as ‘loosely fastened’. It is likely that therewere significant differences in how passengers interpreted this term.4.7.8 Reasons for not using seat beltsOf the 98 passengers who completed the questionnaire, 29 reported that they wereseated without their seat belt fastened. The questionnaire asked those passengers‘why you were not wearing your seat belt’.Ten of the passengers provided the following reasons:• about to get up to go to the toilet or just returned from the toilet (sevenresponses)• been to the toilet and then forgot to refasten their seat belt (three responses).All of these 10 passengers reported that they normally wore their seat belts duringthe cruise activities. Nine of them also stated that they understood seat belts shouldbe worn at all times when seated, and the other passenger reported understanding- 186 -