Bench Seat Seatbelt Mounting Points

[stretchedpacer]

In looking at my drawings (and my 53 fuselage), I see that the seat belts only seem to originally mount to two hard points on the fuselage. A tab on the bench seat seems to constitute the common point between the pilot and co-pilot seat belts but I can find no way that it was designed to tie into the fuselage.

Am I confused as to how the lap portion of the belts mount or has someone devised a good way to tie that common center point into the fuselage. I plan on keeping the bench seat and I plan on installing shoulder belts but see the center point which appears to only mount to the rather light weight seat frame as being an obvious point of failure in the event of an accident.

Any insight would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Steve Pierce]

Look at the later fuselage drawing. There is a large tab welded into the fuselage for a center seat belt attach. The seat is pretty wimpy and won't hold the seat belt very well in the event of a crash. I will post a picture from the shop computer.

[moto657]

Sorry to bring up an old thread. I’ve done a lot of searching on this topic and haven’t found a clear answer.

Is there a preferred or approved way to move the center seat belt attach points off the seat frame?

Pictures would be appreciated.

[Steve Pierce]

Page 24
https://www.shortwingpipers.org/foru...llation/page24
and page 28
https://www.shortwingpipers.org/foru...llation/page28

[moto657]

Thanks for the links Steve. I had read through that thread. A couple of different solutions there, but not a real strong consensus on the preferred method.

I’m definitely not a big fan of the cable method and relying on the quality of those cable crimps.

[moto657]

I like the way it’s done in post 27 on the page linked below.
https://www.shortwingpipers.org/forum/showthread.php?5799-Shoulder-Harness-Installation/page3

I have rear heat so would need some extending links or make the u straps longer.

Is there any concern with the twist in the belt with this set up? Seems like ideally the belt would be mounted rotated 90 deg from the set up in post 27. Then it would wrap the hips of pilot/passenger more naturally and fit through the split in seat back better.