Seat rail positions - adding holes?

[dkkim73]

Hi All, 

My wife flew in the plane for the first time week before last. 

I was showing her the seat adjustments, pedals, etc. She knows some of the basics but is not a pilot, so suggested she find a comfortable seating position farther aft making it easy to keep accidental pressure off the pedals. She's also tall, so the estimated position was past the last set of holes in the rail. She opted to just let the seat drift all the way back. 

Is there a standard approach to setting further aft positions? Different rails? Can added holes simply be drilled in the rails? (I imagine with some oil and a speed that doesn't heat them too much to alter whatever temper has been set) 

Thanks for any advice,
David

 

[donkaye]

2 hours ago, dkkim73 said:

Hi All, 

My wife flew in the plane for the first time week before last. 

I was showing her the seat adjustments, pedals, etc. She knows some of the basics but is not a pilot, so suggested she find a comfortable seating position farther aft making it easy to keep accidental pressure off the pedals. She's also tall, so the estimated position was past the last set of holes in the rail. She opted to just let the seat drift all the way back. 

Is there a standard approach to setting further aft positions? Different rails? Can added holes simply be drilled in the rails? (I imagine with some oil and a speed that doesn't heat them too much to alter whatever temper has been set) 

Thanks for any advice,
David

 

As you probably already know cranking the seat down also moves it back.  On long flights with little or no turbulence I move mine all the way back.  If you do that with the passenger seat, just remember to lock it in when you begin your descent.  It's a big no no to drill holes in the seat rails and I'm not aware of replacements with holes in different places.

[LANCECASPER]

10 hours ago, dkkim73 said:

Hi All, 
My wife flew in the plane for the first time week before last. 
I was showing her the seat adjustments, pedals, etc. She knows some of the basics but is not a pilot, so suggested she find a comfortable seating position farther aft making it easy to keep accidental pressure off the pedals. She's also tall, so the estimated position was past the last set of holes in the rail. She opted to just let the seat drift all the way back. 
Is there a standard approach to setting further aft positions? Different rails? Can added holes simply be drilled in the rails? (I imagine with some oil and a speed that doesn't heat them too much to alter whatever temper has been set) 
Thanks for any advice,
David
 

When Mooney started making airplanes again in 2014 after shutting down production five years earlier, they offered an option of drilling a 7th hole on the seat rail. The option mentioned that it would be installed after the airworthiness license. It's the third from the bottom option on the picture below. It's not something I would try on my own for sure. If you feel like you need it I'd talk to the Factory Service Center to see if that's still something they do and find out if they had any difficulties with it once it was done. 




Keep in mind though that we have someone on the forum who is 6'8" who doesn't have the seat rail modification and flies his Mooney regularly. If your wife is taller than that I would look into getting her a WNBA contract . Then you could get a turboprop and she could sit in the back!

 

[Fritz1]

my wife does the same thing, just remember to lock the seat for takeoff and landing

[dkkim73]

Thank you gents for all the info! I think someone is going to start getting called "Casperpedia" given all the details he knows or digs up. That options sheet is an interesting read. 

Makes sense what Don said about potential structual issues. I wonder what the bit is about "after license"... what category does that put the modification in in that case? It's not urgent so I can always bounce it off the MFSC at some point. 

Funny to the WNBA point; my wife was actually a state champion basketball player though only 6'. I am.... not. We went as Gimli and Galadriel Halloween before last. But the approaches outlined sound like they should be sufficient. I subconsciously flex my lower extremities flying, and never like to be too far from the rudders even as #2, though I doubt it matters too much in cruise, really, to be all the way back. Some experienced guys tell me they fly that way for comfort routinely in the left seat. 

D

[LANCECASPER]

17 hours ago, Fritz1 said:

my wife does the same thing, just remember to lock the seat for takeoff and landing

Everyone gets to decide, but I don't find anywhere in the POH that the seats that are supposed to be secured for take-off are not supposed to be secured during cruise.

Personally I would keep the seat locked during flight in case of any unexpected turbulence. Obviously adjusting it to a new setting and securing it again is fine. Someone slamming into the yoke could be dangerous to them and put the airplane in an unusual attitude. Turbo Mooneys fly high enough where Clear Air Turbulence can happen. 

[LANCECASPER]

9 minutes ago, dkkim73 said:

Thank you gents for all the info! I think someone is going to start getting called "Casperpedia" given all the details he knows or digs up. That options sheet is an interesting read. 

Makes sense what Don said about potential structual issues. I wonder what the bit is about "after license"... what category does that put the modification in in that case? It's not urgent so I can always bounce it off the MFSC at some point. 

Funny to the WNBA point; my wife was actually a state champion basketball player though only 6'. I am.... not. We went as Gimli and Galadriel Halloween before last. But the approaches outlined sound like they should be sufficient. I subconsciously flex my lower extremities flying, and never like to be too far from the rudders even as #2, though I doubt it matters too much in cruise, really, to be all the way back. Some experienced guys tell me they fly that way for comfort routinely in the left seat. 

D

Having the seat further back and locked during cruise actually helps your cruise speed a couple knots.

[dkkim73]

4 minutes ago, LANCECASPER said:

Having the seat further back and locked during cruise actually helps your cruise speed a couple knots.

That's a really good point. My loading usually looks fairly far fwd on the CG diagram, lots of tail downforce in cruise and more so esp. trimming into short final and the flare. 

Think Corvette...