REFLECTOR: Accident report - SQ2000

[Jim Sower]

I seem to recall that Paul bought his seats from Velocity - along with 
some other things. I never liked the seat structure but accepted that, 
like spam cans, the seat has little or nothing to do with restraint - 
the harness being bolted to the airframe. I further assumed that the 
seat structure would crush on vertical impact and therefore be of some 
benefit in absorbing energy. I'm skeptical about the plane springing 
backwards as I am about intimations that he was flying out of limits aft CG.

I assumed that the Velocity restraint structure had been tested 
satisfactorily ... Jim S.

Al Gietzen wrote:

> Some of you may have seen this on other venues. This is not happy 
> reading but I post it here because of one factor that relates to our 
> airplanes – the seats.
>
> You can skip the rest of the report, but note that the lack of 
> seatback support is cited as a cause in the pilots death. The seat is 
> essentially the same as the Velocity. From the first time I saw the 
> Velocity seats I was very concerned that is provides very little 
> support against strong forces vertically or from the rear. Once the 
> back support breaks there is no longer a restraint system.
>
> And speaking of restraint system, I also pressed the factory years ago 
> for some test of the 5/16” bolt threaded into ¼” aluminum block as an 
> adequate seat belt attachment; particularly for the inboard side of 
> the front seat.
>
> The analysis of the 4 canardians who examined the wreckage of Paul 
> Conner's aircraft is now available at:
>
> http://www.cozybuilders.org/N2992_Accident_Eval/
>
> Al
>
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