The Federal Aviation Administration is expected to mandate some type of restraint system for children under age 2 traveling in airplanes.
How and when that system will take effect is unknown.
But San Diego businessmen Jeffery Neff and Dale Smith say they have found a solution that will meet FAA safety guidelines and save money for both the airlines and the parents of those children.
According to Neff, airlines fear the restraint requirement would cost them business because parents wouldn’t want to fly if they had to pay for an extra seat.
Neff and Smith formed Tyke Tube Industries Inc. to create an infant safety carrier for airplanes. The carrier would also serve as a flotation device.
The Tyketube would not occupy a revenue seat as a traditional car seat would. Neff said it’s the product’s selling point.
“The Tyketube provides ‘one-stop shopping’ to the airlines by providing crash protection and flotation in one package,” he said. “The airlines can get back to selling seats to adults vs. discounted infant seats.”
In 1997, a White House commission, headed by then-vice president Al Gore after the TWA Flight 800 crash, studied aviation safety. The commission recommended the FAA drop an exemption that allows children under age 2 to travel without being restrained.
The Tyketube, which will be sold to airlines, is expected to go on the market by the end of the year. The company has projected sales in fiscal 2001 at $195,000, reaching $2.1 million by 2005.
