Shoulder harness Yes or No

[MyassisDragon]

Just curious what the consensus on shoulder harnesses? Who likes them, hates them, wouldn't get in a plane without them?

My first few years were in planes that had shoulder harnesses and now finding the more I fly the more I am in planes that predate harnesses. If equipped I always loosen it up and slip it under my arm during cruise but have it on for landing, takeoff , and turbulence.

But so far almost every professional pilot or instructor ( me as Friend not student) I hop in a plane with either does not put it on or has a plane without them, and comments on the positive side when I bring it up.

 

[Jim Logajan]

A large scale data analysis conducted as part of this safety study provides additional evidence that lap belt/shoulder harness use consistently reduces the risk of pilot fatal or serious injury when compared to lap belt use alone. The analysis, which included over 37,000 single- engine airplane accidents that occurred between 1983 and 2008, determined that the risk of fatal or serious injury with a lap belt alone was nearly 50 percent higher than with a lap belt/shoulder harness combination. The results of this analysis provide definitive empirical support confirming previous NTSB conclusions issued during a GA crashworthiness study conducted in 1985 that involved detailed investigations of 535 accidents in which at least one occupant was fatally or seriously injured.

From:
http://www.ntsb.gov/doclib/recletters/2011/A-11-001-006.pdf