Van's Air Force
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Top of head to bottom of canopy?
- Thread starter rph142
- Start date
head whacks
From your post I guess you must be used to aerobatics and head slinging, but my exp in RV's says you gotta watch the headspace. I've been knocked silly in the backseat of a 4 in beautiful weather near South Pass. A friend and a buddy were zooming down the E. side of the divide in a 6A, beautiful weather, and they both got knocked out & went into the lodgepoles at 200K.
In tribute to Van, they both lived and my friend built another 6A that he has today. Keep your straps tight everybody!
From your post I guess you must be used to aerobatics and head slinging, but my exp in RV's says you gotta watch the headspace. I've been knocked silly in the backseat of a 4 in beautiful weather near South Pass. A friend and a buddy were zooming down the E. side of the divide in a 6A, beautiful weather, and they both got knocked out & went into the lodgepoles at 200K.
In tribute to Van, they both lived and my friend built another 6A that he has today. Keep your straps tight everybody!
randylervold
moderator
You will want to be as high as possible for visibility, especially when taxiing, yet you will want to leave some clearance for turbulence. I highly recommend installing a crotch strap for your harness, that way you can cinch it down and prevent yourself from being bounced up into the canopy.
In determining my seat cushion height I got everything in place and put on my headphones. We adjusted the thickness to yield about one finger thickness between the top of the headset and and the plexi. I suspected the seat cushions would compress somewhat and that is exactly what happened... I now have nearly two fingers clearance. Overall, it's perfect. I only occasionally bounce my head into the canopy, and if I've really cinched down my crotch and lap belt then I don't hit it at all.
In determining my seat cushion height I got everything in place and put on my headphones. We adjusted the thickness to yield about one finger thickness between the top of the headset and and the plexi. I suspected the seat cushions would compress somewhat and that is exactly what happened... I now have nearly two fingers clearance. Overall, it's perfect. I only occasionally bounce my head into the canopy, and if I've really cinched down my crotch and lap belt then I don't hit it at all.
I think a proper lumbar support is the main consideration on seat back thickness. I adjusted my seat thickness to headset + small fist. I can still conk my noggin in hard turbulence (no crotch strap). I have multi layer temperform seats and when they warm up they compress a bit.
YMMV
RV3 Pilot
YMMV
RV3 Pilot
Tony Spicer
Well Known Member
Rob,
A few details here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/tonyboytoo/RV3BMiscellaneous#5283347566100830882
When all that Conforfoam warms up I settle in with about
1 1/2" of headroom. Strech a bit and I can touch the canopy. Cold, my head touches the canopy. No crotch strap, but because of the seat belt angle it doesn't ride up when tight.
I use a QT headset, so no issues with scratching the canopy.
Never had a 'chute on in mine, but you'll most likely not want anything on the seatback when wearing one.
Tony
A few details here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/tonyboytoo/RV3BMiscellaneous#5283347566100830882
When all that Conforfoam warms up I settle in with about
1 1/2" of headroom. Strech a bit and I can touch the canopy. Cold, my head touches the canopy. No crotch strap, but because of the seat belt angle it doesn't ride up when tight.
I use a QT headset, so no issues with scratching the canopy.
Never had a 'chute on in mine, but you'll most likely not want anything on the seatback when wearing one.
Tony
Hi Rob,
Mt canopy is lowered 0.75" and I have about a 2.5" hard cushion in mine that almost fills the seat rib concave shape and makes for a flat seat bottom and have about 2.75 " headroom without a headset. I have a Hooker Ratchet two belt system with a secondary lap belt and an second attach point on the floor that takes my weight more vertically than the stock attach point, this one gets the ratcheted belt. Even with being "nailed" to the seat I've found in other aerobatic airplanes you can still "stretch" and touch the canopy with less than 2" clearance. My chute tapers from 2" at the bottom to 1" at the top and I will probably end up with a 1" seat back spacer. This distance has more to do with reaching full fwd stick while inverted and can be adjusted after flt. test. I have sacrificed some taxiing visibilty over the stock set-up for aerobatics.
Mike
Mt canopy is lowered 0.75" and I have about a 2.5" hard cushion in mine that almost fills the seat rib concave shape and makes for a flat seat bottom and have about 2.75 " headroom without a headset. I have a Hooker Ratchet two belt system with a secondary lap belt and an second attach point on the floor that takes my weight more vertically than the stock attach point, this one gets the ratcheted belt. Even with being "nailed" to the seat I've found in other aerobatic airplanes you can still "stretch" and touch the canopy with less than 2" clearance. My chute tapers from 2" at the bottom to 1" at the top and I will probably end up with a 1" seat back spacer. This distance has more to do with reaching full fwd stick while inverted and can be adjusted after flt. test. I have sacrificed some taxiing visibilty over the stock set-up for aerobatics.
Mike
