Articulating Seat Bottom Frame -Photos

[Bennett]

At long last Mooney built and shipped the now imfamous articulating seat bottom to me.  I do have to say that this is nowhere as simple a unit as I thought it was.  I did not really pay attention to the seat bottoms when they were stripped down for re-upholstery - in fact, I don't think I ever saw just the frame itself.  As you can see in the photos, a fair number of parts, weldments, jackscrews, and tubing. Making a "One-Off" unit at Mooney has to be a losing proposition financially, even with the price they are charging.  Now if they were making a batch of them, or better still outsourcing for 50 at a time, I think the price could drop considerably.  Anyway, I am glad to have it, and as soon as I get the airplane back from the avionics shop, I will fly N335BB back up to Pine Mountain Lake, and Tim can swap out the co-pilot seat bottom. 

[flyboy0681]

Who knew?

[Piloto]

Do not allow anyone over 300 pounds to seat on it, the raising mechanism will break if set at midway position.

José 

[Bennett]

Jose,

Thank you for the advice. Frankly, I don't personally have any friends who weigh that much, let alone who fly with me. I think it would be hard to fit a 300 pound person into the co-pilot's seat in a Mooney, but I am resonably sure someone out there in Mooney land weighs that much and flies Mooneys.  Most of my passenger/co-pilots weigh less than 175 pounds - some (female type) much less, so I don't think this is a problem.  I will, however, ask the passenger/co-pilot not to crank up the seat while they are sitting on it. They can step out of the airplane (before takeoff of course), make whatever adjustment they think is appropriate, and then get back onto the seat.  I really don't think the raising arrangement is robust enough to handle adjustments while seated- at least not upwards. 

[thinwing]

it is not that fragile Bennett,it is made to adjust height and thus view out windshield while sitting in it....my copilot does it all the time...kp couch