Review of my new Crow Harnesses

I thought I would give some pics and a short review of the Crow Harnesses that I just recieved.

These are harnesses that are built by Crow Enterprises. These people make all kinds of restraint systems for all kinds of race cars and now airplanes. They carry some sort of certification but it is a cert for race car activities not aviation but if it is good enough for a 300mph dragster, it should be good enough for an experimental airplane.

If you order, you need to talk to Fred Crow as he knows about RV's and what you need to make them work in your plane. The stock models are not setup correctly so don't assume you can just order the standard ones off the internet.

Crow was super easy to work with and shipped my order the very next day.

What you will see here costed me $140 each set plus shipping.
Basically you can get a full 5 point harness with the cam lock latch for the same price as the Van's harness with the lift latch system and Van's does'nt come with pads.

These are on par with the Hooker harnesses just way, way less expensive.

What I ordered from them was the 2" Y style harness with pull down adjustement and 1/4" bolt in anchors and sewn in pads, 2" x 55" seatbelt with pull up adjustment and 1/4" bolt in anchors, cam lock latch and grey in color.

They ship these things packed well and in individual boxes. Total weight for the shipment is 9lbs including the boxes.
Here you can see the entire harness.



Here is the expensive part, the cam lock. This cam lock allows two positions. When rotated fully counterclockwise, it locks in the open position. If you partially turn it from close, all the latches unlock and the clips are free to fall out. When in the locking position, you can insert each clip one at a time and there is no need to insert all of them. One of them is permanently attached so the lock never comes completely free.



Here you can see how tall the Cam lock is which is a little concerning for us with extra Bubba factor. These may be hit by the stick we shall see. I guess they have to be tall enough for the guts to work inside. The camlock seems to be machined out of billet aluminum and black anodized. Looks like a good quality piece. I would not dare take it appart to see inside but I assume high quality inside as well.



Here is a nice shot of the logo sewn into the harness. It is not high contrast like some I have seen so it looks great. You can also see the high quality stitching.



Here is the back of the pads. The pads are made of some high quality fabric that seems soft to the touch on the back so it should be comfy against the neck and not rub.



I elected for the Y style harness which is also adjustable on the common strap. They give you plenty of strap to work with so this will be easy to fit to my liking.



This is one of the seatbelt straps showing the pull up adjustment.

Review of the Crow's Page Two

Page Two:


This is the crotch strap which comes plenty long with an adjustment so you can customize where you want the latch to ride.



The crotch strap clip is pitted on purpose to help you ID it from the rest of the clips on the other straps.



Here is a pic of one of the adjusters. The only thing I did not know was that they do not come with a tab attached to the slot like some others do. I think you can order these as an optional part or leave them off but I am not sure. It is easy to adjust without it but some may prefer the tab to pull on.



This is a shot of the attach points.



This is a detail of the quality of the stitching.



Closeup of the logo.



Back side of the cam latch:

Crow Page Three:

Certification data plate:



Overall I say these are winners! I mentioned the pull tabs above but that should not be a show stopper. Concider the thickness of the cam latch. The plating quality of the metal parts is not show car quality, but I could care less. The only highly polished parts are the clips that go into the latch.

The camlock is very smooth and feels like a high quality mechanism. The logo on the front of it most likely will scratch off in short time.
For the money, I don't think you can beat these guys!

Great pitcures Brian - thanks! I probably get more PM's asking me about my Crow Harnesses than any other single topic, and now I can just point them at your thread!

Love my Crow's!

Paul

I have the same ones and just have one comment that I was going to talk to Crow about it and see if they can change.

The attach points for the lap belt and crotch strap could use a different end that makes the attach hole farther from the belt. When you attach them to the Van's brackets you'll see what I mean. Part of the belt will rub on the brackets.

Other than that, they are awesome. I'm sure after a couple people talk to Crow they will just start using different attach points.

The shoulder attach points are not an issue because they hook to the cables.

Very nice stuff! Good post!

Here is a picture of what I'm talking about. After looking closer mine are not exactly like the ones circled below, but pretty close. The belt just ends up too close to the attach hole.

Easily disengage shoulder harness?

Do these have a feature where you can easily disengage the shoulder harnesses while in cruise flight? I wear a 5-point at the airline I fly for, and we typically fly around in cruise without the shoulder harnesses attached and put them back on during the descent. Most of the commercial ones I've seen will let you push a button or something similar just to undo the shoulder harnesses and leave the rest attached.

I tried this last night. If you turn the handle, there is a point where you can pull one or two of the clips out but the others will not fall out on their own. I am not sure this is truly a feature or if it just happens to work.

Paul or someone else with these may be able to shed some more qualified light on this question since they have actual experience using them.

Brantel said:

I tried this last night. If you turn the handle, there is a point where you can pull one or two of the clips out but the others will not fall out on their own. I am not sure this is truly a feature or if it just happens to work.

Paul or someone else with these may be able to shed some more qualified light on this question since they have actual experience using them.

Click to expand...

We have Schroth harnesses in our club's ASK gliders. I'll check them this weekend to see if they lock open or allow the removal of the shoulder straps.

TODR

GREAT stuff Brian, thanks for posting!

I haven't found a way to reliably disengage JUST the shoulder harnesses with the Crow buckle, but you can always release the harness and then re-buckle just the lap belt. After all, it shouldn't be bumpy when you decide to take off the shoulders!

Or do like I do when I want to move my upper body around a bit - I just loosen the shoulders all the way and then slide them down my sides, leaving them in the buckle. Very quick and easy to get them back on.

Paul

Thanks Brian

Nice post, I will use this when the time comes to get my set of Crows for the 7.

Thanks

I just installed the crow 5 point in my 8. first impression is good. I will have the first flight within the week so I will let ya know how they fell in the air.
Chad Holladay

Paul,
Do you have a picture or commentary on how you mounted your PLB on the shoulder harness? I have the same unit and have been looking at how to utilize the clip/bracket that it comes with, but it is escaping me.

scard said:

Paul,
Do you have a picture or commentary on how you mounted your PLB on the shoulder harness? I have the same unit and have been looking at how to utilize the clip/bracket that it comes with, but it is escaping me.

Click to expand...

A pack of Velcro straps and a 2"wide strap (with buckle) off of an old back-pack, all strapped around my shoulder harness pad. It was a temporary, "trial fit" that just ended up as the on-going solution....

Paul

Just wanted to update the thread on the pull tabs for the harnesses.

I contacted Fred with Crow and he sent me an envelope full of the pull tabs for the harness adjusters. They are designed to insert, fold and iron together with a hot iron. They are replaceable when they get ratty.

cholladay said:

I just installed the crow 5 point in my 8. first impression is good. I will have the first flight within the week so I will let ya know how they fell in the air.
Chad Holladay

Click to expand...

So how did the Crow 5 point work in your -8? I want to upgrade my -8 to better harnesses and want a second opinion! Not sure how "Bubbaesque" you are, but did the "Bubba Factor" cause the latch to interfere with the stick?

Paul - it would still be nice to see a picture of your PLB mount.

Bubblehead said:

Paul - it would still be nice to see a picture of your PLB mount.

Click to expand...

I thought I'd posted this before - very simple. I have some harness pads from Schroth that zip over my Crow's. I simply passed an old backpack strap through it and buckled it in line with the pad, and holding the PLB bracket. Used a couple of Velcro cable keepers around the pad to keep it tight and centered. Nothing is permanently attached - easy as pie!



Paul

Are you required to have some sort of certification for harnesses in homebuilts? I was under the impression that they needed to be I'd like to roll my own when the time comes, but don't know if that will be allowed

boom3 said:

I have the same ones and just have one comment that I was going to talk to Crow about it and see if they can change.

The attach points for the lap belt and crotch strap could use a different end that makes the attach hole farther from the belt. When you attach them to the Van's brackets you'll see what I mean. Part of the belt will rub on the brackets.

Click to expand...

Any outcome of this?

I didn't have a problem with the lap attach, but did have to remove some material on the crotch belt anchor brackets to get clearance with the webbing. There was still plenty of edge distance for the securing bolt down there.

Excellent review.. I just ordered the crotch strap kit from Van's for our -6, going to have to figure out how to make it work, but we are gonna need some new harnesses and I've always liked Crow's..

Crotch strap, tso

Jeff,
I retrofit the Van's crotch strap kit which is for 7s, 9s into my 6A. You have to figure out the dimensions and location but if you built a 6, not having pre-made holes or lots of instructions won't deter you. Make sure it is far enough back so that the crotch strap won't fall into the well where the control stick is if it comes loose. It pretty much fits where it fits. The strap bracket has to be redrilled.

The Crow harnesses are (of course) not TSO'd. Experimental aircraft hve never been required to have TSO'd seat harnesses but the FAA has tightened up their recommendations in the last several years. You should have good documentation on your equipment.

I did some extensive research through the alphabet soup regulations, contacted EAA, blah, blah, etc. before going with Crows. The web breaking strength and hardware of Crows well exceed the minimum requirements for certified aircraft and they are certified by one or two auto racing organizations. I think the airframe would probably fail before the Crows did. I went over the top and got certs for the webbing from Crow when I got mine but its not necessary.

Refs, if you have a lot of time on your hands:
FAA AC90-89
FAA order 8130.2
FAR 21.1
FAR 23.1 inc (b)
FAR 91.205
FAR 91.191(g)
AC 20-27
TSO-C22g
SAE AS 8043

Dave A.
6A build

koda2 said:

Jeff,
I retrofit the Van's crotch strap kit which is for 7s, 9s into my 6A. You have to figure out the dimensions and location but if you built a 6, not having pre-made holes or lots of instructions won't deter you. Make sure it is far enough back so that the crotch strap won't fall into the well where the control stick is if it comes loose. It pretty much fits where it fits. The strap bracket has to be redrilled.

Click to expand...

I didn't build our 6, but a local 6 builder has volunteered to help me with the project, so I think it'll be no sweat, hopefully..