Getting stuff from baggage area in flight -6/-7

[edweeks]

Ok, this question may be embarrassingly dumb but?.When you?re flying along and want to, say, get a bottle of water, or a camera, or a pack of gum etc. from the baggage area, what do you do? I mean, I?m not able to turn around and reach over and down into the baggage area. If I?m flying by myself, I just pile everything I might want onto the right seat. When I?m flying with my wife, I?ve been piling everything onto her. She?s getting a little tired of being first officer/storage shelf. Is there some trick that I?m missing? Am I the only guy who occasionally finds himself wanting something from the baggage area. Or do I just need to work on my flexibility? Yoga?

[captainron]

I think you've already answered your own question; just fly solo! More room for your stuff, your plane will perform better, you can do more aerobatics without any complaints, you'll have the freedom to scratch and adjust things as necessary, you can add gas to the plane while inflight, and no one will be looking at you like you're an idiot with that big dumb grin on your face! You may feel guilty at first, but that will soon pass. Good luck!

[rzbill]

Originally Posted by edweeks

When you?re flying along and want to, say, get a bottle of water, or a camera, or a pack of gum etc. from the baggage area, what do you do?

I thought that was what aerobatics were for!?

[hevansrv7a]

I have the same problem, even solo. My aging shoulders won't take reaching back and down as required and not everything fits or belongs on the right seat.

Technique 1: have a cover for the baggage area such as comes with the interiors from Abby at FlightLine Interiors. I put charts there, for example.

Technique 2: have your wife unbuckle, turn 180, kneel on the seat and reach over.

Technique 3: turn on the autopilot, turn 180, kneel on the seat and reach over.

Technique 4: as in #1, planning ahead is needed, but pockets and such are good - forward of the seats of course.

and finally, take a look at Bison's stuff.

[Louise Hose]

Originally Posted by captainron

I think you've already answered your own question; just fly solo!

Hmm. I guess that tells us something about Captain Ron's social life. I love having my honey in the right seat.

I try to address this problem mostly by pre-planning and staging. My plane has pockets in the interior down in the wheel well. That's where back-up charts, plates, flashlights, extra pens, and checklists live. In the pocket on the passenger/co-pilot's side carries the canopy breaking tool, barf bags, another flashlight, and stick-on shades. Water bottles, snacks, and charts I'm actively using sit in the area between the two seats. On cross-country trips, I have a bag with other potential emergency things like a hand radio, back-up hand GPS, airport directory, and yet more lights is staged immediately behind the center upright bar at the front of the luggage area. If there is other baggage, I make sure the emergency bag is wedged on top. I find I can reach into it with minor difficulty from my seat with the shoulder straps and sometimes seat belt loosened. (I'm expecting the autopilot to make that easier.) But, I have only dug into it a couple of times while in flight.

[AlexPeterson]

Originally Posted by hevansrv7a

[font=Franklin Gothic Medium]SNIP

Technique 2: have your wife unbuckle, turn 180, kneel on the seat and reach over.

Technique 3: turn on the autopilot, turn 180, kneel on the seat and reach over.
SNIP

A parachute would be advised when doing this. This is very, very dangerous... if you bump the stick forward, you may go for a ride outside your plane. A lot of mobility can be had by loosening the shoulder straps and slipping them off the shoulders.

[captainron]

Originally Posted by Louise Hose

Hmm. I guess that tells us something about Captain Ron's social life. I love having my honey in the right seat.

Perhaps HIS and HERS airplanes are the way to go. You don't know anyone in that situation, do you, Louise?

[L.Adamson]

Originally Posted by Louise Hose

Hmm. I guess that tells us something about Captain Ron's social life. I love having my honey in the right seat.

And that's the way I feel. My side by side is built with the full intention of having my wife go along for the cross countries. We've done all our trips together for 37 years, with the exception of a few business trips here and there. And that's the way I prefer it.

L.Adamson -- RV6A

edit: Okay...........she say's theres a few trips with the guys once and a while. Deer hunting, Lake Powell, etc. But I still like taking cross country trips with other people to enjoy all the mountain west scenery around here.

[NYTOM]

Originally Posted by captainron

you can add gas to the plane while inflight

I'm thinking good idea but how do you..........
Oh yea, Ive done that.

[captainron]

Originally Posted by L.Adamson

And that's the way I feel. My side by side is built with the full intention of having my wife go along for the cross countries. We've done all our trips together for 37 years, with the exception of a few business trips here and there. And that's the way I prefer it.

L.Adamson -- RV6A

OK, on a serious note, there is an airport community close to where I live. A resident there had a homebuilt that apparently created heartburn for some of the residents there that knew the plane. He finally convinced his wife, who didn't want to fly, to go up for a ride. As a result, at the double funeral there were three very sad little orphans.
As a result, my wife and I who have two young kids, have decided to limit dual exposure in homebuilts, warplanes, and the like. After I finish building and reach some comfort level in the reliability of the RV-7/Mattituck, we may go up together occasionally. If she ever wants a ride in the T-28, I'll have someone else take her.
I feel confident in my flying, having well over 10,000 flight hours in lots of different stuff, but all those hours won't compensate for a major structural mishap, or other unknown that could lead to a very rapid and uncontrolled descent!
Ridicule my social life all you want, or, like others on here, have decided against having kids because it would affect their "RV Lifestyle", I don't care!

I try to keep most of my posts here on an amusing, or tongue-in-cheek basis.
Sorry this particular one isn't.