Hooker Harness adjustments

[chrispratt]

Graham

My issue was the opposite of yours. When I purchased my Hooker harnesses (somewhere around 2004) there were no clips in them. I found the belts, especially the shoulder belts, continually loosening especially in turbulence. This greatly concerned me as I did not want my head to hit the canopy during turbulence and either crack the canopy or knock me out. I flew with this situation for several years and finally while at Oshkosh a few years ago I stopped at the Hooker booth and asked them what they suggested I do. They said, "Well, we could install some clips in them. That should stop the slippage." So I sent my harnesses in and they added the clips at no charge.

The clips have indeed helped reduce the slippage but it still occurs during every flight. Just not as often as pre-clips. During turbulence, I still find myself tightening the shoulder harnesses frequently.

So my 2 cents is to keep the clips.

As to the seat belt portion of the harness, mine does slip but is mostly an issue during maneuvers that lift you out of the seat such as recovery from takeoff (power on) stalls or inverted flight. This is just as serious, if not more so, an issue as turbulence. While practicing high angle of attack power on stalls, I have literally been lifted out of the seat during the pushover to recovery where my feet lifted off the rudder pedals and the stick was barely within reach. At Oshkosh 2014, I stopped by the Hooker booth to inquire about their ratchet system so that I could prevent just such an occurrence. Unfortunately, Hooker will only sell the ratchet with a double seat belt arrangement (two belts rather than one for your seat). For an RV8 this would create quite a bulky setup that I don't care to adopt. So I'm going to look around for other solutions/sources.

Meanwhile, I'm keeping the clips installed. For me, they are much better than no clips.

Chris