"Kilo Charlie" wrote in message news
I remember Chip showing us his system years ago when flying at Mid Atlantic
Soaring. My only concern is the same that was posted back when this all was
discussed in 1998....that is if the belts will withstand the loads placed
upon them at angles that they were not designed for when using the system
described by Chip. Does anyone have any further info about this? You out
there Chip? I know that he was concerned re the liability issue of
non-approved applications in the past so may not be willing to discuss this
publicly.

I still use my 6-point harness, the details of which I discussed in a
previous posting. Ed Byars' thoughtful email prompted me to look for
it. Cut and paste this URL into your browser window. You may have to
remove any hard carriage returns that have been inserted into the long
address:

http://groups.google.com/groups?q=gr...aol.com&rnum=1

My concern about modifying harnesses in a certified aircraft remains,
not just for regulatory reasons but also because you're touching a
piece of safety-related equipment that can carry high loads and has
the potential to save your life and/or injure you, as Tim Mara has
previously noted on this forum.

As Casey notes, many 6-point installations (including mine) use the
seat belt attach points to anchor the thigh straps, too. I agree this
raises a question about loads being applied with different vectors
than they were designed for. On the other hand, approximately 50% of
the load on the extra harness straps is fed into the central buckle
which has the shoulder harness restraining it, so it's not as bad as
it first seems. I'd welcome any comments from more authoritative
sources.

In one update since I wrote the above email, several pilots have
assured me that their 6-point harnesses work just as well as a 5-point
harness (i.e., with a crotch strap) for turbulent ridge running. I was
a little dubious but, having never used a crotch strap, I have no
first-hand knowledge.

Chip Bearden