Recently a maintenance error caused a serious inflight emergency in my RV-8.
While descending to land at Santa Barbara, about 15 miles west at ~3,500 ft, I encountered severe turbulence, likely a mountain rotor given the wind conditions. After enduring the turbulence for a minute or two I was coming to the conclusion that landing at Santa Barbara was not going work. Just then the plane was tossed even more violently and my head was slammed against the top of the canopy. I went to (re)tighten the seatbelts and found the left lap belt had failed, it was no longer attached to the airframe.
Even being dazed by hitting my head I realized this was a serious emergency. Without a functioning seatbelt the continuing severe turbulence was tossing me around inside the cockpit and I was concerned that hitting my head again, which seemed likely, could result in a concussion or unconsciousness. I initiated a full power climb to get out of the rotor. It probably took less than a minute to reach smoother air but it felt like an eternity. I was very lucky to exit the turbulence without a serious head injury.
After landing at Santa Ynez the problem was obvious. As can be seen from the attached picture, the bolt that secures the left lap belt is in place but the seatbelt bracket/strap are missing. I had installed the bolt with the seatbelt bracket offset and the bolt did not go through the mounting hole in the bracket. It must have been that way since the last annual inspection 11 months ago (during annual I remove the front seat and seatbelts to facilitate the control linkage inspections). Apparently, the left lap belt bracket had been held in place by compression from the seatbelt mounts and the bracket lodging against the seat back. Surprisingly it had held quite well that way for many flight hours but let go in the severe turbulence.
While I’m embarrassed to admit an error on a seemingly simple system, I felt it worth sharing. A reminder that even simple systems, like seatbelts, require your full attention.
While descending to land at Santa Barbara, about 15 miles west at ~3,500 ft, I encountered severe turbulence, likely a mountain rotor given the wind conditions. After enduring the turbulence for a minute or two I was coming to the conclusion that landing at Santa Barbara was not going work. Just then the plane was tossed even more violently and my head was slammed against the top of the canopy. I went to (re)tighten the seatbelts and found the left lap belt had failed, it was no longer attached to the airframe.
Even being dazed by hitting my head I realized this was a serious emergency. Without a functioning seatbelt the continuing severe turbulence was tossing me around inside the cockpit and I was concerned that hitting my head again, which seemed likely, could result in a concussion or unconsciousness. I initiated a full power climb to get out of the rotor. It probably took less than a minute to reach smoother air but it felt like an eternity. I was very lucky to exit the turbulence without a serious head injury.
After landing at Santa Ynez the problem was obvious. As can be seen from the attached picture, the bolt that secures the left lap belt is in place but the seatbelt bracket/strap are missing. I had installed the bolt with the seatbelt bracket offset and the bolt did not go through the mounting hole in the bracket. It must have been that way since the last annual inspection 11 months ago (during annual I remove the front seat and seatbelts to facilitate the control linkage inspections). Apparently, the left lap belt bracket had been held in place by compression from the seatbelt mounts and the bracket lodging against the seat back. Surprisingly it had held quite well that way for many flight hours but let go in the severe turbulence.
While I’m embarrassed to admit an error on a seemingly simple system, I felt it worth sharing. A reminder that even simple systems, like seatbelts, require your full attention.