seeking shoulder harness solution

[neilpilot]

3 hours ago, DCarlton said:

Inertial shoulder strap or fixed/adjustable?  Ive considered installing the one without the inertial reel.  

As I posted yesterday, fixed.

[Pinecone]

12 hours ago, DCarlton said:

Shoulder belts are fine...  I'd take them but I'm not optimistic at all that they would be that effective in a Mooney.  You sit too close to the yoke and panel even if you have long legs.  I was in a rear end collision years ago in an F-150, wearing my shoulder belt, and was pushed into the car in front of me.  My face hit the steering wheel anyway; hard.  Your body is pretty flexible when faced with that sort of sudden deceleration.  I bent right around Ford's inertial shoulder belt.  For what it's worth, I keep a cushion in the back seat that I plan to put between me and the yoke in case of an off airport landing.  It make me "feel" better about the possible of survival.  

But I'm no expert...  or a mechanic... or an aerospace safety engineer...   

Yes it is, but think of how much harder you would have hit the steering wheel without the harness.

 

[Pinecone]

Another thing to think about.  How old are your harnesses.

I replaced the non-inertial reel harnesses with the Alpha Aviation ones.

Partly due to wanting inertial reels, but also because the harnesses were original from 1987.  And showed some sun fading, which likely means sun damage to the webbing.

[A64Pilot]

On 10/13/2022 at 7:37 AM, Pinecone said:

Another thing to think about.  How old are your harnesses.

I replaced the non-inertial reel harnesses with the Alpha Aviation ones.

Partly due to wanting inertial reels, but also because the harnesses were original from 1987.  And showed some sun fading, which likely means sun damage to the webbing.

The Legacy aircraft we had to stencil installation date on the belts and change them at 60 months, we didn’t do that on the newer aircraft, I don’t know why. The old belts were white, the new ones black. I know black zip ties last much longer in the sun than white ones, is that true for nylon webbing too?

So Alpha aviation has reels? I need to look into that, cause I want reels, to be truthful I don’t wear the shoulder harness because of it.

[Igor_U]

24 minutes ago, A64Pilot said:

So Alpha aviation has reels? I need to look into that, cause I want reels, to be truthful I don’t wear the shoulder harness because of it.

I don't know...

I have a fixed shoulder harness in my F and I wouldn't like the reel because it's quite bulky. it's install above the shoulder unlike the typical car installations that are on the floor. YMMV.

[carusoam]

4 hours ago, A64Pilot said:

The Legacy aircraft we had to stencil installation date on the belts and change them at 60 months, we didn’t do that on the newer aircraft, I don’t know why. The old belts were white, the new ones black. I know black zip ties last much longer in the sun than white ones, is that true for nylon webbing too?

So Alpha aviation has reels? I need to look into that, cause I want reels, to be truthful I don’t wear the shoulder harness because of it.

UV light is the killer of nylon molecules….

Soooo…. By altering the color of the belt, or adding UV light protectant to the nylon… one could conceivably improve the useful life of a seat belt that has been exposed to sunlight…

Of course, the seat belt manufacturer would know to test this…. They use an environmental chamber or a service in Florida for testing….

Best regards,

-a-

[carusoam]

PP Thinking out loud….

1) GU landings are expensive… and everyone with insurance bares the expense…. And they know it… and get disappointed with the pilot for not doing better….  

2) Getting injured by not having proper seat belts… can be way more expensive….

Check the insurance documents… it probably has a question about your seat belts…

Insurance companies have a way of making us think about what we are doing sometimes…

PP thoughts only… I have never used a seat belt or air bag in anger….   

Best regards,

-a-

[EricJ]

13 hours ago, carusoam said:

UV light is the killer of nylon molecules….

Soooo…. By altering the color of the belt, or adding UV light protectant to the nylon… one could conceivably improve the useful life of a seat belt that has been exposed to sunlight…

Of course, the seat belt manufacturer would know to test this…. They use an environmental chamber or a service in Florida for testing….

Best regards,

-a-

I recall that about fifteen years ago there was a big switch from nylon to polyester for race belts for this reason, that they didn't age in UV nearly as badly as nylon.