Fitting 2 babies in a Mooney?.

[Guest]

7 hours ago, Ragsf15e said:

Ok, i measured today... It's going to be tight!  How hard is it to take the seat back off the copilot seat and just leave the base?  Mine are high with built in headrest.  If i could do that, it's easy... Wife seats in back on co pilot side with one car seat in front of her and one behind me.

Does the seat back come off easy?

The seat back come off quite easily.  There is a flaw in your plan though, the seat is anchored at the aft rear of the seat, with no seat back to pull the car seat against you'll never get it tight.  Likely better to strap them both securely in the back seat and have your wife turn around in her seat when needing to check on the babies.

Clarence

[kpaul]

18 hours ago, Browncbr1 said:

I also wonder if ANR headsets actually just give a false sense of protection

I have a little over 5K hours almost all in turboprop aircraft (BE-200, PC-12, C-130) plus a few years turning wrenches on F-16s.  I now wear the Bose A20 (past 4 years), previously I have worn a few different DC headsets.  At age 42 my hearing baseline has not changed.  As a military pilot, we get the full booth hearing test every year so at least in my case I have not seen any loss using ANR vs. traditional passive headsets.  

[ArtVandelay]

With the J, you lean the seat back forward and slide the seat forward gives plenty of room, have you tried sliding the seat fully forward?

[Hank]

And here I thought the hard part would be fitting a Mooney into the budget with two babies . . .

Good luck with your car seat challenge. Please document what fits for others' reference in the future, as well as your loading technique.

[Ragsf15e]

Thankfully paid off the plane and got through the first two very expensive annuals before the twins showed up.  Got a $250/month hangar now and trying to keep costs down on the plane. Fingers crossed that I'm through the most expensive annuals for a while... Top Gun was very good and very thorough and very expensive! 

Yeah, i put the seat all the way forward and lean it forward a bit, but not nearly enough room to slide a carseat through.  I think it's because i have a fancy interior with built in headrests and ergonomic seats put in by previous owner...

the whole thing would be easier if I wasn't 6'3" because i need my seat all the way back in the last detent.

i will document the solution and post some pics...

[Dave Marten]

Pics show my setup in a 231.  I installed the intact seat forward facing with the lap belt through the base so my wife upfront can attend to her. Figured the impact forces of a crash would be from many angles would minimize the need for rear facing especially when balanced with easy-access.  EM 4 ear buds for the baby worked fine. First pic is during taxi for the 2012 Caravan arrival-hot on the MSN ramp.  Yes, that is a two person stroller in the luggage compartment. Baby Jogger City Mini. Wheels pop off and folds nearly flat. For toddlers the Cosco High Back Booster ($42 at Walmart) seat is light and transports easily from plane to rental car. Second pic is Oshkosh 2011, six week old in the North 40. Anyone wanna beat that?   

W&B: had a friend driving from South Dakota (we flew from SoCal) so I mailed a crate of camping gear to SD and he dropped it off at the North 40 for us. A portable DVD player patch-corded into the intercom made the trips easy. Nothing like formation flying to OSH with a Disney soundtrack in the background! 

Edited March 26, 2016 by Dave Marten

[Ragsf15e]

Funny, i have a gold ringed blue comforter just like your daughter is sleeping on.. '95, you?

[Dave Marten]

5 hours ago, Ragsf15e said:

Funny, i have a gold ringed blue comforter just like your daughter is sleeping on.. '95, you?

'99

[DanM20C]

I have two girls that are 16 months apart.  The youngest just turned two.  I had them both flying before 4 weeks old.  We have gave up on hearing protection.  When they were little, 6 months and younger, we would use ear plugs and the Ems.  After that we couldn't keep them on them.  They now each have a pair of child headsets and usually only keep them on if they are in the middle of an Ipad movie.  I grew up flying and didn't get my first headset until I passed my check ride when I was 17.  From 0-17 yo I probably spend around 1K hrs in GA without hearing protection, so I'm guessing they will be fine.

When my youngest was still in the infant car seat I made some seat belt mounts that attached to the seat rails.  I removed the passenger seat and strapped the car seat rear facing in it's place.  My wife would sit directly behind her and could tend to both kids easily.  Now we have both in the cheapest car seats I could find at Walmart, coincidentally the narrowest I could find too.  We flew a 2500nm round trip last year in this configuration, it worked but I'm looking for a bigger plane now.

Dan 

[madjano]

I never tried rear facing, but if I can do it in my E you should be able to do it in an F.  I am 5'-10"  but have pretty short legs so the big kid (5 yrs) sits behind me.  (this was taken while getting fueled up so they didn't have there headsets on yet)  it is hard to keep head sets on the little one, but we found if you put on ear earbuds underneath Peltor's, he will watch a movie with his brother and is usually out before the climb is over.  

Crazy how I will have the AP on and plane trimmed to hold, and when the wife turns around to get a bottle ready or help with the ipad the CG will change enough to put us in a 100 FPM climb, probably not as drastic in a longer body.

Also keep the let downs under 500 FPM, Little one has tubes and doesn't seem to effect him, but the oldest lost his tubes years ago and will scream bloody murder in the headset if I let down to fast, even when chewing gum.  Doesn't quite have the Valsalva maneuver figured out yet.

Good luck with the twins...

 

J

[Ragsf15e]

Thanks guys!

[Browncbr1]

5 hours ago, madjano said:

  

Crazy how I will have the AP on and plane trimmed to hold, and when the wife turns around to get a bottle ready or help with the ipad the CG will change enough to put us in a 100 FPM climb, probably not as drastic in a longer body.

I had a 270lb back seat passenger who kept leaning forward between me and my other friend to look at the gps...  drove me crazy.. up and down.. right when I would just about get it trimmed, he would move again.. this went on for an hour and half.. ...haha..   we were hounding him over that when we got home.. 

[gsengle]

Hell solo in cruise I push my seat all the way back for comfort and I can see a change in nmpg on my fuel flow computer.

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[gsengle]

Well here we go with the twins... Ready for their first flight at 2.5

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[bradp]

20 minutes ago, gsengle said:

Well here we go with the twins... Ready for their first flight at 2.5

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Nice (toddler) ride!  

[Danb]

Sweet

[Guest]

On April 1, 2016 at 10:29 AM, madjano said:

I never tried rear facing, but if I can do it in my E you should be able to do it in an F.  I am 5'-10"  but have pretty short legs so the big kid (5 yrs) sits behind me.  (this was taken while getting fueled up so they didn't have there headsets on yet)  it is hard to keep head sets on the little one, but we found if you put on ear earbuds underneath Peltor's, he will watch a movie with his brother and is usually out before the climb is over.  

Crazy how I will have the AP on and plane trimmed to hold, and when the wife turns around to get a bottle ready or help with the ipad the CG will change enough to put us in a 100 FPM climb, probably not as drastic in a longer body.

Also keep the let downs under 500 FPM, Little one has tubes and doesn't seem to effect him, but the oldest lost his tubes years ago and will scream bloody murder in the headset if I let down to fast, even when chewing gum.  Doesn't quite have the Valsalva maneuver figured out yet.

Good luck with the twins...

 

J

Refuelling the plane with the kids strapped in their seats is not the safest thing you could do.

Clarence

[22 others]

Dum dums were our descent drug of choice. Don't know why, but it worked well.

[madjano]

On 5/22/2016 at 8:44 PM, M20Doc said:

Refuelling the plane with the kids strapped in their seats is not the safest thing you could do.

Clarence

Ok - technically we are usually in the FBO for a bio-off load whilst the plane is actually being refueled, but brings up a great point. 

I'm sure everyone does this, but please brief significant other on what the game plan is for an emergency de-plane.  Loading and off loading of kids in car seats is difficult enough in normal situations.  I carry a leatherman on me with a SHARP (10000 grit polished) knife edge and prepared to cut seatbelts if necessary.

Hmm... maybe the wife should be carrying one too...

Jan

 

[Guest]

Even with a good fire extinguisher you can't easily put out a 100LL fire.  

Clarence

[Ragsf15e]

Test flight today with the twins (~4 months old)!  Success!  Bought two cheap (and small-ish) car seats for semi-permanent installation in the airplane.  Have to coordinate for car seats at the destination since they are tough to get in/out without pulling copilot seat.  Orchestrating the logistics of getting in and out is the hardest part and bears serious consideration if you'll be on a ramp when it's warm outside.  

9,500' over the northern Idaho Mtns!  Very slow decent...

Whoever said they'd be asleep by the time the gear was up lied to me.  They were wide eyed for the first 15 minutes... then passed out and slept through everything (including my landing) until we pulled them out to shove them in the air conditioned car.

Thanks for the help and ideas!

Rags

[carusoam]

Rags,

Post that photo up on a file cabinet in your home office.  Check back in 16 years...

It will still be there.

Best regards,

-a-

[mooniac15u]

They seem awfully small for front-facing seats. I recall mine being in rear-facing seats until they were a year old. If their neck muscles aren't strong enough they could get seriously injured in an off-field landing. 

[bradp]

2 hours ago, mooniac15u said:

They seem awfully small for front-facing seats. I recall mine being in rear-facing seats until they were a year old. If their neck muscles aren't strong enough they could get seriously injured in an off-field landing. 

This is correct.  Rear facing until at least one but now the data says until 2 years old.  For exactly Mooniac15u s reason.  Almost all impact for an aircraft would be the equivalent of a front end impact so even more important for infants to be rear facing.