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Early fuselage. I would get a piece of cable and swedge it to the tubing in the floor for additional support. Your airplane originally had a single lap belt for the front two passengers. Saw an accident with a Pacer with your seat belt/shoulder harness arrangement that was involved in an accident where the seat folded in the middle and they both went into and under the instrument panel. Very serious with serious injuries. Look in the AC 43.13 for some additional guidance.
Couple of observations: The Piper suggestion of about 1978? to attach the shoulder harnesses around the aft seat frame bottom and folding back rest tubes will almost certainly kill you. The geometry of such a fix with the deceleration G load in a crash will likely shear the hinge bolts or compress your spine down to Munchkin height.
The fix above the top of the rearmost seat position is clumsy and intrusive to the head and neck. However in might be tolerable if 4 clamps were to be attached to the carry-through tube, one for each shoulder strap.....but it provides no restraint in an inverted crash.
For my Tri-Pacer I have ceased using the rear seat and dedicate the resultant space to luggage, shopping and camping gear. Passengers are always grumbling about leg and shoulder room anyway. This exposes a very convenient (and massive) transverse structural member just above the luggage compartment, in front of the hat rack, to which the rear seat squab would normally be laced. My shoulder harnesses are attached thereto using 2 webbing loops which are joined by 3 bar buckles and onto which are attached harness anchor plates. The plates are then attached to the shoulder straps of my GQ "Z" type seat harnesses, easily refurbished by Hooker complete with new thigh pads. The resultant load path is parallel to the floor and provides near ideal restraint.
I have seen a Tripe in US which had a cable loop swaged around the cluster where the rear main spar attaches. The cable was pre-protected by a plastic sheath, also protecting the tubework. This might solve the head/neck interference but this would have the effect of diverting the shoulder straps sideways.
Last edited by Spotty; 07-26-2017 at 11:54 AM.
Reason: Missed a bit
Not sure but I would not think that oval shaped tube that suspends the rear seat back would have much strength if a belt were to pull forward on it in a crash
Couple of observations: The Piper suggestion of about 1978? to attach the shoulder harnesses around the aft seat frame bottom and folding back rest tubes will almost certainly kill you. The geometry of such a fix with the deceleration G load in a crash will likely shear the hinge bolts or compress your spine down to Munchkin height.
The fix above the top of the rearmost seat position is clumsy and intrusive to the head and neck. However in might be tolerable if 4 clamps were to be attached to the carry-through tube, one for each shoulder strap.....but it provides no restraint in an inverted crash.
For my Tri-Pacer I have ceased using the rear seat and dedicate the resultant space to luggage, shopping and camping gear. Passengers are always grumbling about leg and shoulder room anyway. This exposes a very convenient (and massive) transverse structural member just above the luggage compartment, in front of the hat rack, to which the rear seat squab would normally be laced. My shoulder harnesses are attached thereto using 2 webbing loops which are joined by 3 bar buckles and onto which are attached harness anchor plates. The plates are then attached to the shoulder straps of my GQ "Z" type seat harnesses, easily refurbished by Hooker complete with new thigh pads. The resultant load path is parallel to the floor and provides near ideal restraint.
I have seen a Tripe in US which had a cable loop swaged around the cluster where the rear main spar attaches. The cable was pre-protected by a plastic sheath, also protecting the tubework. This might solve the head/neck interference but this would have the effect of diverting the shoulder straps sideways.
I flew my brothers Clipper today with the back seat removed and thought about this post. Attaching the shoulder harness to the rear seat streamline tube would put a negative angle on my shoulders. I am 6' and my shoulders are well above the seat back and would be afraid of spine compression. I believe the Hooker harnesses we wrapped around the rear spar carry through do a better job and don't see a way for them to slide sideways.
My shoulder harness's are Hooker H style attached to the rear spar carry-thru. My wife and I have never found them to be uncomfortable.
The center seat belt attachment is to a reinforcement welded to the under floor cross and angle rubes with a verticle ear to attach the belts to.
Hi Jerry, I merged your thread with another on the subject. Lots of good information and I don't think there will be any difference between the Colt and Pacer/Tri-Pacer or even the Clipper.
We installed the fixed harness and if I had it all to do over I would probably go for the inertial reels instead. Grabbing the flap handle at least for the first notch, is a pain. I actually use my foot to pull the first notch in a fairly awkward move. From there I can reach and pull the last notch with my hand. That may be because I'm on the short side at 5'5" but I don't know.
We installed them in a already covered airplane and it was a real PIA. We pulled the headliner down at the doors but still was very tight and hard to get in there. Somewhere in this thread somebody cut a larger opening and installed a 6"x"6" (?) cover plate and that might be the way to go. Just thinking out loud though. YMMV.
“Seek advice but use your own common sense.”
― Yiddish Proverb