How effective are avalanche airbags?

If you want a somewhat more "breezy" presentation on the research, my presentation to a regional "SAW" is linked from the second paragraph here:
avycourse.blogspot.com/2010/04/additiona...ional-resources.html

An airbag deployment most likely saved the life of a skier in that tunnel creak avalanche.

i don't use one because of the added pack weight and a bad back.There's also the question of taking greater risks due to having one and perceived avalanche protection (see risk homostasis theory)

i am trying to get a local designer intertested in designing a light weight air tight pack that you would blow up, using lung power or light weight volume pump, before you descend.

the idea is to inflate the pack volume after you empty the pack of your descent kit.

An inflated pack may also help with tree well falls and object  hits, as well as avys.

I don't know if it would  have the volume of an airbag however.

I have also wanted an inflatable pack for another reason, backcountry skiing out of a wilderness camp. Once you remove all your camp gear from your pack, it becomes difficult to carry your skis on that pack. The loose skis end up banging my calves.

I have taken to packing a beach ball, which I stuff into the empty pack body, and then inflate to stiffen up the pack body. This really helps keep the skis from flopping around as I climb. Your inflatable pack could possibly do double duty in this regard.

An inflatable air mattress works well for this function and it's likely something that you would carry anyway. I have an older full length Therm-a-rest Ultralight that I have used for the purpose of providing enough volume in the pack to make a-frame ski carry manageable.

An inflatable air mattress works well for this function and it's likely something that you would carry anyway. I have an older full length Therm-a-rest Ultralight that I have used for the purpose of providing enough volume in the pack to make a-frame ski carry manageable.

Thanks for the tip, that sounds like a good idea that I had not thought of!

hey Scotsman did you ever ask those Alaskan guides if they report their near-miss accidents to their potential client base?
....

Whether we refer to such things as near misses or incidents, 'reporting' these things is good for the industry for more reasons than this immediate suggestion.. The more incidents with no consequence relative to those that do have consequence establishes a better picture of risk. As an example, in the hangliding community, the insurance market has a keen interest in understanding that ratio. What was perceived as a high risk endeavor, with commensurate insurance rates, has demonstrated with broader reporting of incidents with low or no consequence, that risk is lower than anticipated. Consequently, insurance rates have fallen.

It would be interesting to know in the heli-ski industry how this matter is perceived. I've enjoyed my few Heli-skis and have felt safely prepped and guided.

Posting bogus observations under the alias "Observations for Money" on NWAC is a douche move