FAA Office of Aerospace Medicine
Civil Aerospace Medical Institute
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AVIATION MEDICINE REPORTS

Report No: DOT/FAA/AM-93/14

Title and Subtitle: An Assessment of the Potential for Neck Injury Due to Padding of Aircraft Interior Walls for Head Impact Protection

Report Date: August 1993

Authors: Armenia-Cope, R.; Marcus, J.H.; Gowdy, R.V. and DeWeese, R.L.

Abstract: This report describes a short test program to assess the potential for neck injury induced by placing padding on the interior walls of an aircraft cabin to reduce the possibility of a head injury during a crash. Such padding is a possible mechanism of achieving the heightened impact protection requirements adopted by the Federal Aviation Administration in 1988. The report reviews the literature on impact induced neck injury, and reports neck injury criteria developed and reported by others. The type of test device to use with the neck injury criteria is also discussed. Using the reported neck injury criteria, and a Hybrid III test dummy with neck instrumentation, the testing program found that neck injury, with one exception, was not likely in either the tested pad or unpadded case. The one exception was neck extension injuries for which both the unpadded and padded tests exceeded the injury criteria. The tested pad, in comparison to the unpadded case, substantially decreased the neck extension moment, implying a reduction in neck injury risk.

Key Words: Neck Injury, Impact Protection, Crashworthiness, Padding

No. of Pages: 14