Listen here , America : Stop double - fisting those Quarter Pounders and go for a run . Otherwise , you might never get to do some awesome things — like taking an elevator to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris , or taunt a gondola down the canal of Venice , or really going anywhere at all . Becauseflying is far more severe if you ’re juicy .
That ’s correct , corpulent air travel could stamp out you . Standard seats are a bequest of old aeroplane design , and as people get plumper , they have n’t been rethought . It ’s hazardous . The only adjustments that have been made for fat flyers are that usually they ’re required to buy an extra ticket . And everyone — fat , underweight , tall , short , solid , and round — is at risk . Since the chair might not be strong enough to keep the rider sitting in it safe , or tighten , it might also make harm to others on the trajectory .
Oh and that seatbelt that ’s conjecture to be firmly fasten ? It might not protect the dumpy ones . According to a University of Buffalo bailiwick of automobile collisions , corpulent number one wood have a high risk for harm because they are less likely to be fall apart these chasteness , because of the discomfort they cause . So it ’s kind of unrealistic that Hurley survived for so long on Lost .
It ’s also believably even worse than we can imagine . The FAA does n’t even know for trusted how seats will oppose during a clang if fill by the a big than fair nookie . It performs crash tests , just not with portly silent person . And FAA rule have n’t catch up to American ’s growing girth . Written more than 60 years ago , they require seats to be contrive to accommodate a person weighing around 170 pounds . Decades later , people are just bundle on the pound . think it or not , the average weight of a man is now 194 pounds , while it ’s 165 for women . ( SaysFATSTATS ) . But the butt have n’t changed .
In short , if you ’re full - figured , or flying with people who are , you intimately hope the aircraft does n’t encounter any turbulence .
Is there any resolution ? America has been gorging itself deeply into nationwide average of obesity for years . And we ’re not just pass to wake up tomorrow and be a country of track - thin runway models . Because thing like the Double Down still exist . The National Transportation Safety Board last year recommended that the FAA start gathering information about the size of it of citizenry flying in individual planes , so that it can gauge the effectuality about constraint . This mean eventually , airway will likely have to dole out the dollars to address these issues . Meaning , bigger seats and stronger place belt . Which , if it lead in more leg room for the rest of us , would n’t be so uncollectible . [ New York Times ]
Image credit : StudioSmart / Shutterstock
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