Take achima comments as vey prudent.
I upgraded my interior, through a Part M shop, whilst under EASA. They did not even put a log book entry. They then denied they had actually completed the work. On checking, they had got a local car upholsterer to supply the materials, and guess what.
No certificates, no records, no responsibility. I will also point out that they told me verbally, all was in order re certs. To add insult to injury, the CAA inspector sided with the shop, and told me it was my responsibility as the owner/operator.
I was not that happy about that incident. But I learnt a lot………..
Caused me no end of expensive and difficult grief when I changed to N reg. got through it, but was a complete PITA.
Did an interior job my bird before it became N registered. All leather and carpets used are backed up with FAA burn certificates.
If you can’t produce that it can become a show stopper when changing reg’s (I know of some cases)
This is a pretty good article on upholstery issues, at least for N-registered aircraft.
If the plane is old enough, the certification requirements are much less. It basically fades to nothing.
There are also practical advantages to having an unusual plane.
I was contacted by an acft owner a couple of weeks ago when an FAA Inspector challenged him for burn certs on his beautiful recent leather interior in a Beech Baron.
He was really sweating it thinking he was going to have to rip it all out as some have suggested here.
Not so !
We cut small samples out from places that would not show and sent them to a lab that does burn testing.
Cost all in $200 and took 10 days to complete.
Vic – Very true, but this sadly is the norm, these guys wanna see paper more than anything else, so you just give them their paper and get on with the serious stuff !
PS: Believe it or not, Inspectors read the Euro GA Forum, ask me how I knoiw !
Cessna Seat Refurb
My plan was to try and get the seats of our project U206 as good as we could. I like the idea of sheepskin which has the feeling of keeping you elevated off the seat. I wanted to get headrests that fit, and were high enough to be useful. I found all three trim pieces that go with the seat (Left/Right/Back) as they generally make the seat nicely finished, and hold the seatbelts in place. Looking at other Cessna’s I could see the side to side rocking and fore and aft play was mostly down to the seat rollers. The rollers wear plus there is play in the bolt and bushing. Cessna also chooses to use the Royalite plastic material which we all know turns brittle and doesn’t age. I decided to use two McFarlane kits SK1/SK2 and change the AN23-19A Bolts/Nuts/Washers to get a good solid base. The seat frame itself was originally painted in Cessna cream two pack, someone previously blew it over in matt black with an aerosol. I got a 2 pack paint match from my Selkirk interior panels and on Tuesday I’ll paint the bases up. Coming from an aeroplane that had no interior fitted when we rescued it, all this is a big improvement.
Finished Seat
The old rollers and hardware coming out
You have been lucky that the frames needed so little work.