03/16/2003 11:46:56 AM
Greetings All,
I have just returned from a week at the Civial AeroMedical Institute of
the FAA
in Oklahoma City. I had the opportunity to attend a lecture by the team
leader
of the Biodynamics division (the folks who test seat and restraint designs
for
certification, among other things). We chatted for some time after the
lecture about experimental a/c safety systems. He is familiar with our
favorite A/C and his opinion is,
as already published in Advisory Circular 21-34 (1993), that the standard
upper
attach point is suboptimal. I described the system I installed in N224XS,
which was
shown to me by Bob Berube, and he thought this system (upper belt held by
cable to hardpoint on fuse seam behind baggage bulkhead) was much better.
He is no fan of interial reels either.
Also, he thought 3 inches of tempurfoam is not adequate for safely passing
the 19g
vertical acceleration test. He thought it would provide insufficient
damping and
secondary impacts. I had the idea that low compression strength honeycomb
material, if laminated up to a couple of inches in the seat pan might be
useful.
Anyone want to collaborate on such a design?
Ira
N224XS XS Trike MG
(Soon to be designated FAA AME)
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