erikpmort

erikpmort

Well Known Member
Anyone found a good way to strap a kids car seat into the back, high enough so they can see over the front seat ? My 3 year old wouldn't come close to the 60 lb weight limit. Any other reasons it wouldn't be a good idea ?
 
I seem to recall someone making a mod to allow this. Not sure where I saw it.

I can't give a reason but this just seems like a bad idea.
 
While you can fit kids back there, I would guess it's not designed to protect occupants in a crash (the front cockpit area is built with vertical crash loads in mind). That alone is reason enough for me not to ever consider it.
 
Surprised to be getting a lot of negative response to this, that's ok I did ask. I remember the c-152 calling the back cargo or child seat capable so I'm surprised it's not similar
 
There has been a lot of discussion in the past. Try a forum search using - child baggage, and jumpseat or jump seat

I was one of the first to do this about 18 years ago (HERE is a post in an old thread containing a picture of him right after arriving at the Arlington Fly-In with his Mom and I in our RV-6A), and I discovered that the biggest issue isn't weight, it is their height. As they grow, they quickly out grow the space for head room and leg room (if seated facing forward).

The leg room issue could be dealt with by seating sideways but that is not a good idea from a safety stand point.
If I were doing it all over again I would probably make leg extensions in the lower part of the baggage bulkhead and mount a high quality child seat facing backwards. This puts their head further fwd (where there is more head room), the window line would be a bit lower, and it would be a safer seating direction in a crash.

Having said that, I probably would not do it again. They grow so fast, it is just not usable for very long. Their is no way I would do it if they had already been born into this world, and I was not yet finished with the airplane. By the time you get it flying, there will likely be very little time left that they will be small enough to use it.
 
The answer is RV10

That is why they build them :) More POB in safety.

Besides when they grow a bit....you will need the room anyway.
 
I think it's a worthy question Erik and I have also wondered about this myself. I remember having a fold up jumper seat in an extended cab truck I once had that allowed the person in the rear to sit sideways. I'm not sure why that couldn't be accomplished in an RV.
 
RV10inOz said:
The answer is RV10

That is why they build them :) More POB in safety.

Besides when they grow a bit....you will need the room anyway.
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My problem with the 10 is I have two kids now but in a few more years ill have three if not 4. So maybe I could squeeze three small kids in the back but even 4 seats won't be enough eventually.

As far as having kids turned sideways yeah it may not be as safe but then again , all the old small cabs in the back of trucks have side facing seats.
 
erikpmort said:
My problem with the 10 is I have two kids now but in a few more years ill have three if not 4. So maybe I could squeeze three small kids in the back but even 4 seats won't be enough eventually.
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Those four kids will be really crowded in the back of the 7. :cool:
 
erikpmort said:
As far as having kids turned sideways yeah it may not be as safe but then again , all the old small cabs in the back of trucks have side facing seats.
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I know, I own a truck that has them.
Trucks do not have to meet the same passenger safety requirements that passenger cars do. Just because the seats exist, doesn't mean they are just as safe as a fwd facing seat.
I personally only used mine with my kids when I had no other alternative (read that as very rarely).
 
I'm not an engineer, but to me the big problem is that unless you get a solid seatbelt anchor point to the baggage area (similar to those for the pilot/copilot), the entire g-load of the child seat (and whoever is in it) is going to be pulling on whatever you attach the seat to, presumably the baggage floor/ribs. Are those attach points going to hold a child seat in place in the event of a crash? I wouldn't bet my kid's life on it.
 
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Try doing a search on "child seat" and you get a number of hits.

Here is one of the threads.

I have been flying with my son in the back for four years and it works out well.
 
alpinelakespilot2000 said:
Are those attach points going to hold a child seat in place in the event of a crash? I wouldn't bet my kid's life on it.
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And no one else should either. It needs to be properly engineered.

The one I did had the top of the seat anchored to the two shoulder harness cables for the front seats, and additional anchors for the bottom, built into the baggage area floor.
 
My problem with the 10 is I have two kids now but in a few more years ill have three if not 4.
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There is a cure for that.

But a Bonanza, get the earlier 80's vintage I think, they have the better payloads.

You are flying out of high DA and I assume want good range, so add tip tanks and an IO550 with a quick trip to TAT for the TN treatment.

Then you have a Bonanza with a great payload via improved MTOW, great range, and good high field performance.

Now if all that sounds expensive for the family budget......well you cant afford the 4 kids either!
 
There's some good info on RV-6s with "back seats" for kids here and here. Seats are rearward-facing. Not sure there's enough legroom back there for forward-facing seats. As for seeing out the front; I have enough trouble seeing over the nose, I don't know how a backseater would be able to see much at all...
 
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