Backcountry
Gear
The list of prohibited items goes on and on when one plans to board an airline. From firearms to lighters, the range of prohibited items is extensive to say the least. But one item that can surely save your life in the backcountry is strangely enough prohibited on United Airlines. The avalanche airbag, originally conceived in the 1970s by German forester Josef Hohenester, is that particular item.
Hohenester originally tested the system for a few years with balloons before selling his new invention patent to German entrepreneur Peter Aschauer. After purchasing the patent in 1980, Aschauer founded ABS (Avalanche Balloon Secutem), and unveiled the first functional airbag at the Internationale Fachmesse für Sportartikel und Sportmode (ISPO) in Munich in 1985. The technology continued to improve throughout the decades, including ABS’s 1996 state of the art twin-bag system. The entry of other brands in the 2000s (Mammut, Ortovox, BCA), and the shift to electronic, supercapacitor-powered systems with features like active deflation, a feature building on the principle of was implemented keep users on the surface. These scientific advances pushed the survival device to new, unthought of territory.
Where that becomes an issue with aviation, however, is the avalanche airbags pressure system and explosive nature. The avalanche airbag works by deploying a large balloon when triggered, using the principle of inverse segregation to make the wearer become a larger object that stays near the snow’s surface, preventing deep burial and suffocation, while also providing some trauma protection. When the avalanche airbag handle is pulled, gas from a canister or an electric fan rapidly inflates the balloon in seconds, increasing your volume so smaller snow particles move beneath you as the avalanche flows, keeping you up top. This explosive pressure could be catastrophic in a pressurized airplane cabin, however.
Imagine a large airbag exploding open at over 200 mph, inflating to several feet in diameter at 30,000 feet of elevation. Best scenario, you absolutely terrify every single person on the aircraft. In the worst case, the explosion could potentially blow out a portion of the planes hull, causing an immediate decompression. Whatever the case, it may be the wise choice for all party’s involved for the backcountry skier or rider to instead pick up a new avalanche airbag when they arrive at their final destination.
You’re making something out of nothing. The regulations btw are ONLY airlines in USA/Canada and only due to restrictions from TSA and CATSA, IATA international approval allows these in both checked bags and carry-on for years with no problems. Your “worse case”example is also not realistic, none would have the force to do any damage, the irony here as well is every seat in most planes has a gas powered lifejacket underneath it.