History and Development of Airline Cabin Safety

History and Development of Airline Cabin Safety offers an understanding of how cabin safety evolved over time. It covers six key areas: impact protection, fire protection, egress potential, life support equipment, information and instructions, and cabin professionals.

Exploring the organic choreography of accidents, research, technological progress, rulemaking, and industry response, the book clarifies that cabin safety enhancements were not well planned but came incidentally and step by step. Each step was triggered by accidents with survivability issues, except in one area where a proactive approach proved to be first time right: oxygen for passengers. The step improvements, which mainly occurred in the U.S., concentrated in three waves centered around 1950, 1970, and 1985, respectively.

The book will interest aviation regulators, aircraft manufacturers and operators, cabin safety professionals (including cabin crew), and accident investigation professionals.

Fons Schaefers has over 40 years of aviation regulatory experience, gained in various aviation sectors. Between 1981 and 1996, he held several aircraft certification, research, and development positions in the field of cabin safety within Fokker Aircraft. He participated in five aircraft accident investigation teams on three different continents. In 1996, he joined a Dutch airline to manage the application for an Air Operator Certificate and developed its Safety Management System. He participated in international bodies engaged in aviation safety advice and rulemaking, including the U.S. FAA’s Aviation Rulemaking Advisory Committee (ARAC) and the European EASA Safety Standards Consultative Committee. In 2010, he joined SGI Aviation Services for whom he performed consultancy and training activities in the general subject of aviation safety regulations. In 2012, following SGI’s selection by the Government of Guernsey as the service provider for the Guernsey Aircraft Registry, he developed its policies, protocols, and procedures. He managed the registry on a day-to-day basis between 2013 and 2018. He retired early 2019 but is still engaged as an independent consultant.