Airline Travel May Get Better...eventually?

[Mr.Math]

News article today that Delta airlines has a prototype for an airline seat that would allow power wheelchair users to remain in their chair for flights.

https://www.seattletimes.com/business/boeing-aerospace/delta-unveils-seat-that-would-let-fliers-use-their-own-wheelchairs/

[Burgerman]

Interesting. That pic shows the chair must climb a small curb to get in position - sideways? But right next to a normal seat. Not sure how that would be possible especially from a confined plane interior. And my Salsa or Q700 wouldnt fit by the look of it. The seat backrest and housing for the actuator and headrest would hit the bar at the rear that contains the normal seat holded up. And the aircraft headrest. Thats a compact chair with 12 inch diameter narror tyres, 24 inch overall width by sunrise. A full rehab chair is wider and longer. So by the time you are moved forwared to stop the seating actuator etc hitting the rear your toes on your (my) size 12 shoes will hit the front wall. And it may be too wide to sit in that place too.

Also not too sure how the weight of a full house 190KG powerchair and a 20 stone user will be supported on a fragile aircraft floor made from can materials... Its a great marketing and a great idea and picture. Its far from universal and practical yet. So I wouldnt expect to see this on any aircraft in the practical or forseeable future. Would be great if it was. But...

[shirley_hkg]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bt5lQff ... hairTravel

[shirley_hkg]

It will be a big step ahead.

It also eliminates possible damage of chair being transported as checked luggage.

Too good to be true though .

[Burgerman]

The video is good. It shows exactly what I said. Thats a much smaller shorter chair than mine in all 3 dimensions. And yet to get that into place he had to drive in from a place that was actually a wall, other seating etc in the original photograph inside the plane. And no 3 inch step!

So all they did in all that time designing this was add a folding seat. They could have done a better faster job is 10 mins by removing a seat! It still does not fix the lack of area needed to fit a real full sized chair due to space requirement, or the bigger issue of adequate ACCESS and manoevering room in order to actually get into that position. The chair they show is a narrow one with tiny 23.5 width from sunrise. And no headrest, wider arms, 20 nch wide seat, or rear seating actuators etc. My chair simply wouldnt fit.

It took them years to do a worse job than removing a seat? And adressed non of the actual space and access issues?
Dont expect to ever travel in a rehab chair on an aeroplane anytime soon.

It also doesent address the issues of a 320kg (120 user/190 chair) mass during severe turbulence or crash. Which will require an awful lot more thought than the restraints shown if thats ever going to get past the dreaming stage. Airplanes are designed to look substantial. To make the users feel secure. The reality is they are little more than fragile structure covered in plastic and thin alloys not much thicker than a can. In order to fly. If it was built like a car it wouldnt fly!

A long way to go I think before this is ever going to be possible or useful in current aircraft. I wish it was. But unless an aircraft is built from the outset with some heavy duty system to protect the other passengers in the event of a crash, and the user, and has adequate space to fit a proper chair and adequate access room, I just dont see it happening.

Maybe if they removed 2 rows of seats on one side to give sensible space and access, widened the isle access and entrance, fitted a strong box like in the cargo hold for heavy items and suitable hold down systems etc. If the will existed they could do this easily in a week. They manage to fly vehicles and trucks with a modified cargo plane regularly. But £££££... Says it wont happen anytime soon on a passenger aircraft. It will not make them any money.