Cockpit miscellany

A variety of cockpit-interior work in this post…

Having read about too many airplanes destroyed by brake fires, I've always made it a point to carry a small fire extinguisher in my airplanes. I have no illusions that I'll be able to put out a fuel or oil fire, but if I can prevent an overheated caliper from torching my airplane or someone else's, it's worth the effort to carry one. So I bought a small 1.25 lb Halon extinguisher (expensive!) and mounted its bracket to the forward tunnel cover, which will position it between the seat cushions:

I bolted the lap belts and crotch straps to their brackets in the floor:

I installed the approximately one million screws for the forward seat pans, and also attached the stick boots with additional screws. I have to say I'm not thrilled with how well my interior paint is holding up – I've tried to be careful with it, but it chips really easily. On the next airplane I'll have to use something different.

I had a local vinyl sign shop make me an "Experimental" placard that meets the requirements of FAR 45.23(b):

Since I already painted the baggage bulkhead with textured paint, I figured the vinyl wouldn't stick very well, so I masked off and sanded down a rectangular area and then painted it flat black:

Looks good and can't be missed:

I bolted the shoulder harnesses to the anchor cables with castle nuts and cotter pins, and then installed the baggage bulkhead with a further half-million screws:

This is all bringing back memories of my previous RV… half the work of doing an annual inspection is just taking out all these screws and putting them back in.