Last week, Peter Greenberg and CBS This Morning hosted a very informative segment on the safety of small children on airplanes. They were joined by former National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) director Deborah Hersman, who’s currently trying to change the FAA regulations that state that children under the age of two can fly for free if they’re sitting on an adult’s lap. Because of those regulations, 85 percent of parents hold their children during flights to save money.

But it turns out that that regulation is 50-years-old and dates back to a time when seatbelts were not required in cars. They say the answer is “safety restraint seats for children under the age of two. If a child is between 0 and 20 pounds, he or she should be placed in a rear-facing safety seat, and if a child is between 20 and 40 pounds, he or she should be placed in a forward-facing seat.” Otherwise, kids will be turned into missiles if the plane hits turbulence or stops short on takeoff or landing. Watch the segment (and more on Peter Greenberg’s site) for more.

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