How do you make long flights comfortable? Headrests?

[TTaylor]

1 hour ago, Piloto said:

From 1982 and on Mooney made the rear seats fully reclinable down to almost horizontal. They are very comfortable but you cannot carry baggage behind the seat if you want to fully recline, except for the long bodies (M20M, M20R).

José

The split rear seats in our 75 F recline very nicely (not flat, but very comfortable).  I like the split seats much better than the bench seat in many F and J models. 

[flight2000]

4 minutes ago, TTaylor said:

The split rear seats in our 75 F recline very nicely (not flat, but very comfortable).  I like the split seats much better than the bench seat in many F and J models. 

So was that an after market modification?  I have never seen a pre-82 bird with the split rear seats, thought they were all bench seats.  Interesting...

Brian

[Hank]

20 minutes ago, TTaylor said:

The split rear seats in our 75 F recline very nicely (not flat, but very comfortable).  I like the split seats much better than the bench seat in many F and J models. 

That's what I have in my 1970 C. Very handy!

[slowflyin]

29 minutes ago, flight2000 said:

So was that an after market modification?  I have never seen a pre-82 bird with the split rear seats, thought they were all bench seats.  Interesting...

Brian

 

My 70F has split rear seats as well.

[Piloto]

1 hour ago, flight2000 said:

So was that an after market modification?  I have never seen a pre-82 bird with the split rear seats, thought they were all bench seats.  Interesting...

Brian

Prior to 1982 some had split seat back with bench seating cushion. Unlike later models the cushions are not removable to make a  larger cargo area.

[Piloto]

Here is a picture of the full split seats.

José

[Oliver]

20 hours ago, Hank said:

[...] Moved my old FlightComm headset to passenger use and bought Halos, and voila! My flying headaches went away. [...]

I tried the Halos, but always struggled to get the left one in, even though I follow the instructions. Seems like my left ear channel is a bit weird. Sold them after a few weeks.
My wife and I have a Lightspeed Zulu 1 as well as a PFX. Quieter than the Halos, but certainly less comfortable.

I am pretty sure, though, that the headaches and the tense neck are caused by sitting still for hours, in the not most ergonomic seats, without any support of the head.

 

5 hours ago, flight2000 said:

For our '67 M20E, I upgraded the seats and went with a denser foam and added the headrests.

[...]

When we did the next upgrade, we went from our M20E to another E (E33A) and ended up with better reclining seats in the back...

 

Haha, the Bonanza cabin certainly looks nice.

Looking at the Mooney headrests, I am wondering if they are high enough to comfortably support the head?

[carusoam]

There is something awesomely rebellious about the older boy in the back seat!

He's a keeper!  You can take the boy out of the mooney, but you can't take the Mooney out of the boy... 

Best regards,

-a-

[bradp]

I can confirm that the headrests from my brother in laws late model Prius fit well in my 77 J.  

Brad

[Marauder]

Thanks Vance, I'm going to stop by the hangar today and feel for those receiving tubes. Since I have leather, I'll have an upholstery shop do the cutting and stitching. I have a set of 3rd row Toyota Sequoia seats in the hangar which according to a previous thread, they should fit without too much modification.
Steve

Steve -- here a couple of pictures of my rear seats. The first one is one of my seats before the shop built the headrests.



Here is one after the headrests were installed. I chose to have the rear ones made smaller.




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[Openwheeler3]

9 hours ago, 1964-M20E said:

Once I am at altitude and everything is OK is push the seat back take may shoes off and settle in to first class on flights longer that 1.5 hours.  Sometimes the flight attendant will pass beverages and snacks around the cabin.

 

 

Same here!

[flight2000]

1 hour ago, Oliver said:

Haha, the Bonanza cabin certainly looks nice.

Looking at the Mooney headrests, I am wondering if they are high enough to comfortably support the head?

They were at just the right height, but I was never really comfortable relaxing that much in flight to enjoy them.  Then again, my wife would smack me thinking I was falling asleep so it was kinda hard to do that...

1 hour ago, carusoam said:

There is something awesomely rebellious about the older boy in the back seat!

He's a keeper!  You can take the boy out of the mooney, but you can't take the Mooney out of the boy... 

Best regards,

-a-

Ohh, don't I know it...he's responsible for about 90% of my grey hairs...

Fully believe he's a future Mooney owner in the making.  First flight in the Bo and he's wearing a Mooney t-shirt....didn't notice that until now...

Cheers,

Brian

[Piloto]

My 1982 M20J has the rear seats back extended up above the head. So no headrest is required. I found that only 1982 models have these seats. They are very comfortable specially when reclined horizontal. Wonder why Mooney stop having them.

The picture was taking during the winter dropping off my son at Virginia Tech KBCB. At 11,000 feet it gets pretty cold in the back and my wife was also bothered by the sun. That is why I have the shades.

José

Edited September 28, 2016 by Piloto

[XXX]

57 minutes ago, Marauder said:

 

Steve -- here a couple of pictures of my rear seats. The first one is one of my seats before the shop built the headrests.



Here is one after the headrests were installed. I chose to have the rear ones made smaller.




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Thanks Marauder, I felt for the headrest receivers in my seats today and there is just too much padding so I'm not sure if I have the hardware there or not. I do like what you have done with yours. My seats are in pretty decent shape so I might get with an upholstery shop and let them remove the leather and have a better look.

[Yetti]

The rear seats in the 75F are some of the most comfortable.  I could very much take a snooze back there.  For the wife I made a pillow that kind of works.  when I get some time I am going to make one that hangs over the seat and leans up against the window.

 

 

[Marauder]

Thanks Marauder, I felt for the headrest receivers in my seats today and there is just too much padding so I'm not sure if I have the hardware there or not. I do like what you have done with yours. My seats are in pretty decent shape so I might get with an upholstery shop and let them remove the leather and have a better look.

You might be able to feel the top of the rail openings on the top edge of the seat.


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[Bunti]

After an upgrade of the interior of our M20F from 1967, our seats are very comfortable. The longest trips we did with the new seats have been about 5 hours non stop in the air with no problems. Sometimes we even continued the flight after a restroom and fuel stop for a total of 7 hours flight time.  The new seats are custom made. The backs of our front seats are extended, so no headrests are required. The rear seats are split. On most longer trips,  we use the rear seats for baggage and put our folding bicycles in the trunk.

With the original seats, I got back pain after flying for more than one or two hours.

 

[Oliver]

I checked our seats – they have the headrest rails installed.

While this is certainly good news, I am now wondering about which headrests I should look for. According to other threads, it appears as whether Toyota headrests seem to be the way to go, with quite a few people using headrests of older RAV4s.

Looking at some of the pictures, the headrests however seem to sit pretty low. I am therefore wondering, if this is indeed the case or if they are high enough, so that the head can comfortably rest on them, when the seat is in a reclined position?

[Hank]

Just now, Oliver said:

 

Looking at some of the pictures, the headrests however seem to sit pretty low. I am therefore wondering, if this is indeed the case or if they are high enough, so that the head can comfortably rest on them, when the seat is in a reclined position?

To be fair, in the photo of my wife with the low headrest, she is sitting on two chair cushions for visibility over the cowl. Remove those and the headrest would be higher.

Besides, I thought the purpose of the headrest was whiplash prevention, even though the odds of being rear-ended in a plane are pretty slim. Guess that preconception just carried over from the car.

[thinwing]

On September 26, 2016 at 8:47 PM, carusoam said:

Oliver,

Did you know that there is the structure in your seat to install a standard headrest from a common Toyota?

This may actually be true.  Check the back of the seat for the structure.  

Find the thread that discusses adding headrests.  Like Marauder, some people need some specialized adjustments.

Hope this helps.  My 65C really needed some additional support.  It can get pretty tiring if you are sitting erect without support.

Best regards,

-a-

He's not kidding..I hear Marauder needs antigravity

[LANCECASPER]

Toyota 4 runner headrests reportedly work

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l1313&_nkw=toyota+4+runner+headrest&_sacat=0

[amillet]

On September 27, 2016 at 6:21 PM, bradp said:

I can confirm that the headrests from my brother in laws late model Prius fit well in my 77 J.  

Brad

Does he know they're gone?

[MyNameIsNobody]

Oversize mouthed bottle of Gatorade.  Empty.

[skydvrboy]

Not trying to resurrect an old thread, just wanted to note that when I went to the junkyard for headsets, every Toyota or Mazda I found had the correct headrests.   You are looking for 3/8" posts on 6" centers.