J3 shoulder harness attach points

[TulsaDave]

Where is the best place to attach the shoulder harness in a J3 for the for the front seat?

Thanks for the help.

[Longwinglover]

There is not a GOOD place.

The brand "W" STC puts a clamp on the rear spar carry through, just waiting to gash your head open and leaving the harnesses hanging right in your face.

The Kosola STC attaches to the cluster at the left rear of the overhead "V" with a single belt.

Neither are ideal. Take your pick.

John Scott

[Steve Pierce]

I like the Kosola STC. It mounts the harness to a machined block that clamps over a tube at a stout cluster. It is a bit pricey though.

[bob turner]

I have my Air Force 4-pt seatbelts mounted like the Kosolo - never, ever a problem with or without a front seat passenger. My personal next step will be a crotch strap - still thinking about it.

I hate inertial reels. They were ok in the jets, but I have never seen a light plane inertial reel that I liked.

[Backcast]

Doesn't F Atlee Dodge sell a clamp that stretches across the top V brace?
Tedd

[Chuck-Fairfax]

I installed the Wag-Aero front belt as shown below. Their idea, also shown in Cub Clues, of having it right over your head made no sense, as John Scott said.


My son and another pilot passenger have had no comfort problems with it off-set like this. I think it is better than a single belt, but don't really know.


I have since moved it to the right side, as shown here, because I normally look forward along the left side more than the right; this gives less restriction to my forward vision.


Your mileage may vary: there was a long thread on this on j3-Cub.com a while back.
Chuck Shaw[img][/img][img][/img]

[bob turner]

Really nice photos. I note that Wag Aero got approval for a smaller bolt. Their first STC shoulder harness came with an AN-6 and a piece of steel plate that had to have come from a scrapped battleship. If you do the math, an AN-3 will break right after the tube has crumpled beyond recognition. I guess Piper did the math when it used coat hangars for the lap belts.

[TulsaDave]

Thanks for the info and the pics. Very helpful. I assumed that a Y belt would need to have the attach point centered. From what I have read on other threads here there is no need to have an STC for shoulder harness install.?

Thanks again

David

[Chuck-Fairfax]

David,
Note in my second photo mine is a "Y" shoulder harness. The offset does bring one side closer to the neck than the other, but not enough to bother either of the men who have flown with it.

Correct, you do not need an STC for front seat shoulder harnesses on aircraft built prior to July 19, 1978, and on rear seat for aircraft built before December 13, 1986. FAA Policy Statement Number ACE-00-23.561-01 covers all this. The FAA thinking is that about anything is better than no shoulder harness. However, if you replace the seat belt, which I had to do, that belt must be an approved belt.
Here is the link to the FAA site copy of the document.
http://www.faa.gov/aircraft/gen_av/h...lderpolicy.pdf
Chuck Shaw

[Alex Clark]

Mine are Atlee Dodge

[12 Geezer]

Alex, I'm looking at your swing-up left window - could you please post a pic (or describe) your latching mechanism and the catch to hold it open?

Hope your back's improving???

[bob turner]

Yeah - and let's have a report on how the breeze is with that window open? I originally thought that would be a really hot idea, but then got the opportunity to fly rear seat with both doors open. Almost lost my headset and glasses - on the first takeoff. There really is a spiral around the fuselage from that prop, and at high power and high angles of attack it is a bit like a tornado. Never noticed it in a biplane, but watch out in a Cub.