The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) wants infants and young children to receive the same level of protection from injury on board a commercial aircraft—possibly through the use of child restraint systems—currently offered to adults. The TSB says a lack of data is hampering research efforts into the extent of the problem because airlines do not count infants seated with their parents in total passenger numbers, nor do they separate the number of young people under age 12 from the total passenger numbers.

The child-injury issue was highlighted recently when the TSB published a final report of the December 2012 crash of a Fairchild Metro III operated by Perimeter Aviation at Sanikiluaq, Nunavut, in the Hudson Bay region of Canada. An unrestrained infant being carried in his mother’s arms was fatally injured after being thrown from the first row of the aircraft into the cockpit during the accident.

The TSB recently published A15-01 recommending the DOT require commercial airlines to collect and report the number of lap-held infants and children age two to 12 years old travelling. A15-02 recommends the department work with industry to develop age- and size-appropriate child restraint systems for infants and young children, as well as mandate their use.