Looking for Seats...

[HWEST]

Helping two friends of mine, both are at a point of looking for seats for their aircraft; one is a Maule, the other a Cherokee 6.

I've been recommended to 'Oregon Aero' ; but interested to hear if anyone has experience buying these in Europe? Furthermore, any recommendations of other international companies would be useful.

Regards,

Harold.

[HWEST]

Apologies to the powers-that be if I have posted in the wrong forum. Is there a homebuild category? I've found PPrune in the past to be the fastest way of gaining a reply, but appreciate the target audience!

[stickandrudderman]

I presume both these aircraft are CofA aircraft and not permit to fly, in which case a homebuilders forum would be of no use to you anyway as you'll (I believe) have to go to an authorised supplier.
Why not just have the seats re-trimmed?

[Zulu Alpha]

retrimming with leather is the best option as most man made materials are not approved for use in aircraft and the ones that are approved can be quite pricey...the same price as leather.

[Pilot DAR]

This company is worth a try: General description of what we (http://www.dougronan.com/general_description.htm)

It is very likely that whatever seats you find will require some rebuild and recovering. As said, leather is worth every penny you spend on it.

Assure BEFORE you undertake buying, or recovering seats, that the person who will be asked to sign out the work or aircraft is okay with EXACTLY what you are doing - or you could be left holding unusable parts, or unsigned aircraft work.

[HWEST]

Yes we're looking at installation of seats in the same respect to airworthiness regulations as any other parts.

I mentioned home builds because these chaps know the suppliers.

Re-trimming sounds like an option on at least one o the sets but if we have to refit the others theyll all need to match...

[Grassfield]

As mentioned, make sure that whatever you use, the seats will be approved (fire resistance etc).

Know of a plane where a proactive member initiated a seat upholstering excercise (quotations, demounting chairs etc etc etc) to everyone's delight since the seats had been high on the list of things to fix for quite some time.

Then came the CAMO... "You're seats are not approved - plane grounded". Took 4-5 months before new seats where installed (a lot to to do with actually finding out what is approved or not and the CAMO would sign off). The plane parked at an air field by the sea (over winter months) during this time, i.e. very humid. All well until next visit to the mechanic who found the engine corroded due to the non-use for this period in humid climate... "plane grounded since the engine needs to be completely overhauled". :ugh::ugh::ugh:

[HWEST]

Something to be said for just leaving the damn seats alone! Until they get pulled up for shabbiness.

Is there anywhere specialising in renovation?

[stevelup]

There's a chap called Ken Bones - widely regarded as being one of the best in the business. I can pass you his contact details if you like.