Snoopy wrote:
The Cessna I rent has a seat slide stop inertia reel STC.
Clever! Do you have a reference to that STC?
172driver wrote:
So do our club ones. How well that works in extremis I hope I never find out.
Couldn’t you try it by having a second pilot in the RH seat flying the plane in a climb and then deliberately releasing the LH seat lock?
For our C185 we have these. With that you have 2 possibilities, you either place it so that you can move the seat back enough to climb in and out of the plane and it there. In that case if the seat unlock you at least in up in a position from which you can still control the plane, but you would probably get very surprised by the seat moving back. The other solution, which I’m using now is to position it right behind my seat once I’ve moved it to the correct position for me and making sure it’s correctly locked. And since I’m flying with my seat all the way forward, if the normal seat locking mechanism fails it would mean that the seat won’t move back at all, only wiggles a little between this stop mechanism and the pin forward which stops the seat from getting out of its rail.
Note that in a C185 you would need quite some skills to get in and out without moving the seat back, especially if, like me, you fly with the seat all the way forward…
Cessna apparently even provided this modification free of charge via their service centers.
tmp_Service_Bulletin_SEB07_5_Rev_1_pdf
There’s also this option
https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/pspages/saftstop.php
For those flying a Cirrus SR2X it might be worthwhile to know this:
I was taught to rest fingers on the seat adjustment lever, move the seat and feel it completely latching in place (= lever fully down and locked).
Snoopy wrote:
Cessna apparently even provided this modification free of charge via their service centers.tmp_Service_Bulletin_SEB07_5_Rev_1_pdf
Thanks. This bulletin doesn’t apply to the “restart” Cessnas (e.g. 172R, 172S). Maybe they have a different seat rail design?
gallois wrote:
Probably. But the Robin seat lock actually works well but it does need to be checked and not just by jiggling back and for. The lever needs to be properly located in the slot and then slid forward to lock it in place. Some forget this and treat it like a car seat.
Absolutely. As far as I am concerned it’s part of my pre-takeoff checklist, together with fuel, ignition, seatbelts etc.
etn wrote:
Absolutely. As far as I am concerned it’s part of my pre-takeoff checklist, together with fuel, ignition, seatbelts etc.
Same with the little Piper PA28 – the seats can slide back, so you need to make darn sure they are latched properly.
