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rear facing rear seat?

burgundyja

Well Known Member
Has anyone ever tried a rear facing rear seat in a 8? I am thinking it would be great for air to air photos. move the seat back hinge then put your feet in the baggage floor. you could put the seat belts on the front seatbelt attach points. Then I think a black fabric skirt so just the photographers head and arms are up in the canopy. Thoughts?
 
Still shooting thru the bubble. Shooting around the glare and reflections is difficult. I kinda make it work in my -6 but miss the flip-up windows in my Taylorcraft....
 
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Our fearless leader DR used to get in the back seat of Danny King's Beautiful Doll, kneeling backwards to shoot of course, he is small and (at least was) flexible. Great pictures were shot from that position - I'd love to see a mockup of a rearward facing seat to see how it would. A clever person could make it so the airplane was convertible!
 
It has been done

the original Super Six had 2 rear facing seats. It now resides in Tucson. Another Super Six is in Calgary and has one rear facing seat. Both these planes are longer than a standard RV. I have never heard of any one riding in the rear facing seats, but sure it has been done. I looked in to it but could not figure out a way to make the plane safe in case of a frontal impact.


Steve
 
better CG

I have long thought (and sketched) this idea for aircraft. Notfor the purpose you state, but for space savings, cg, etc. When you sit back to back like that your heads are closer, so the canopy bulge/high point does not need to be so "long". Your butt and back would be closer to the wings for cg. Assuming both seats are angled a bit, you actually would have a fair amount of baggage room between both seat backs very near the CG (or an aux tank).
 
hypothetically

in the event of a crash, I would think you would want some serious head rest protection. Seems like the neck getting thrown backwards could do some serious damage in a fairly minor event. Then again, maybe I'm wrong.

Randy
8A
 
If any of you are readers of FLYING magazine then you'll be familiar with Peter Garrison and his Melmoth II. It features rear-facing back seats.

Another comparison point is the Glasair Sportsman 2+2. When originally released, the forward-facing rear seats were placed at the aft end of the cargo area and, as a result of the fuselage taper, were limited to carrying small people (5' or less, give or take). Glasair has now released rear-facing back seats which can accommodate full-size adults, thanks to the greater headroom available further forward in the cabin.

With respect to head/neck injuries, head support obviously is key in preventing injuries. However, if you stop and think about it for a moment you'll realize that our heads have no support at all to counter the major deceleration forces in a crash, with frequent severe injuries resulting from front seat occupant's heads contacting the instrument panel. In this case, forward-facing occupants are best protected by good seatbelts (even ones with airbags). Aft-facing passengers might actually have an advantage in this regard. The fully-supported aft-facing seats used by flight attendants in many airliners are likely the safest seats in the airplane from the perspective of head/neck injuries. You don't want to even think about the risk to those same flight attendants posed by unsecured trollies, cutlery or coffee jugs!

With respect to rear-facing seats for photography, Marc Cook, the former editor of Kitplanes magazine had a single rear-facing back seat in his Glasair Sportsman; that seat was purpose-built for photography. With the cargo door removed, his aircraft proved to be an excellent photography mount, with many of the photos taken from that rear seat appearing in the magazine.
 
The USAF used rear facing seats in transports for a long time for safety reasons. My understanding is that rear facing seats are safer but commercial airlines realize pax don't want to fly facing aft.
 
Navy, too...

The Navy's C2A Greyhound carrier on board delivery aircraft also has aft facing passenger seats:
C-2A_interior_DN-SD-03-16988.JPEG
 
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The USAF used rear facing seats in transports for a long time for safety reasons. My understanding is that rear facing seats are safer but commercial airlines realize pax don't want to fly facing aft.
The Navy's C2A Greyhound carrier on board delivery aircraft also has aft facing passenger seats:
With respect to head/neck injuries, head support obviously is key in preventing injuries.
The above is all true, but in my understanding, would be almost impossible to replicate in an RV.

Airlines do not "like" rear facing seats, not only for Pax reaction as above, but the seats need to be stronger hence heavier. Basically the seat back needs to take the full deceleration load, whereas forward facing does not.

you could put the seat belts on the front seatbelt attach points
Yes - but they are not really doing anything in the typical forward impact case?

For the odd photo mission, with all happy to take the risks, then it is up to the occupants... But the RV-8 rear seat has no strength at all. As above, the head is the key, and the Navy aircraft has substantial headrests - a reversed RV-8 rear seat has none. The poor forward seater would most likely be killed by the rear seat pax - especially their head unless you could build in a very well stressed head rest for the rear seater.

Your FAA AC21-34 suggests a 9g Fwd Load should be restrained by the harnesses for a 170lb occupant. The applicability of that to an RV in the USA I do not know, but I suspect the Vans design would meet it?
 
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