Brace (position)
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To brace can be an instruction to prepare for a crash, such as on an aircraft, the instruction to brace for impact is often given if the aircraft must make an emergency landing over land or water.
The brace procedure consists of the person tucking their feet firmly behind their knees - this prevents the legs flailing around in front of them on impact, and placing their head forward and close to their knees if the seatback in front of the person is not reachable, or having the hands and arms to support the head, resting on the seatback if it is reachable.
There have been myths surrounding the use of the brace procedure, namely that adopting the brace procedure is only useful for preserving dental integrity for identification after a crash. However, instances where the brace procedure has been adopted has been shown to save lives. One occasion where some passengers were asleep on an aircraft that was about to collide with trees, one passenger awoke and adopted the procedure, where he was the only survivor[1] (http://www.casa.gov.au/airsafe/trip/emergen.htm). All passengers, aboard a SAS MD-80 in 1991 which subsequently crashed survived due to adoption of the brace position[2] (http://www.warman.demon.co.uk/anna/brace.htm)[3] (http://aviation-safety.net/database/1991/911227-0.htm).
Many government aviation administrations or regulatory bodies mandate the depiction of how to adopt the brace position on aircraft safety cards, such as a 1993 ruling by the United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority (issued in a Notice to Air Operator Certificate Holders 1993)[4] (http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm199900/cmhansrd/vo000322/text/00322w02.htm), or, for example, in CAO 020.11 (section 14.1.3)[5] (http://www.casa.gov.au/download/orders/Cao20/2011.pdf)(pdf), issued by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority of Australia.
External links
- Preparing for a flight - In an emergency (http://www.casa.gov.au/airsafe/trip/emergen.htm)
- Inflight safety - Brace (http://www.warman.demon.co.uk/anna/brace.htm)
- U.K. Studies Find That "Legs-back" Brace Position Is Optimal for Forward-facing Passengers (flightsafety.org) (http://www.flightsafety.org/members/serveme.cfm?path=ccs/ccs_nov_dec95.pdf) - use login/password wikipedia/wikipedia if necessary