Interior Upgrade Question

"Nathan Young" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 23 Nov 2004 16:50:39 -0600, "Brian Sponcil"
wrote:


There's an auto upholstery shop in town that is very well regarded and
while
talking with him regarding my car I got to wondering if I could pull out
my
Cherokee seats and have him leatherize them. FAR 43.100 states pilots
can:

(11) Repair upholstery and decorative furnishings of the cabin, cockpit
when the repairing does not require disassembly of any primary structure
or
operating system or interfere with an operating system or affect the
primary
structure of the aircraft.

Hmmmm. Does "repair upholstery" cover "replace with leather" (or pleather
for that matter)? Does taking out a seat constitute "disassembly of a
primary structure"? I'm pretty sure other people have done this but I was
just wondering how "legal" it is.

The pilot can replace the interior of the plane. There are burn
requirements for the materials used, I think they are spelled out
somewhere in the FARs.

-Nathan

Most good upholstery shops can get FAA approved materials and for not too
much more cost. It's much about weight and toxic fumes when burned. CYA
Dan

Daniel Gram wrote:

The pilot can replace the interior of the plane. There are burn
requirements for the materials used, I think they are spelled out
somewhere in the FARs.

-Nathan


Most good upholstery shops can get FAA approved materials and for not too
much more cost. It's much about weight and toxic fumes when burned. CYA
Dan



The requirement in general is that the materials be fire retardent. If you
have a CAR 3 certificated aircraft, then there is NO requirement to use FAA
approved or tested materials.

If you have a FAR23 certificated machine, then you will have to use approved
materials. There are lots of approved materials out there and even if not, if
you have a resistant material, having it burn tested isn't too involved (other
than the charge).

Ron Natalie wrote:



The requirement in general is that the materials be fire retardent. If
you
have a CAR 3 certificated aircraft, then there is NO requirement to use FAA
approved or tested materials.

You may be lucky enough to have a FSDO that will allow that. I have
talked to 5 different FSDO's about new upholstery, because originally I
was told that too and they all say the same thing. Any new upholstery
in any aircraft must meet FAR 23.853.



If you have a FAR23 certificated machine, then you will have to use
approved
materials. There are lots of approved materials out there and even if
not, if
you have a resistant material, having it burn tested isn't too involved
(other
than the charge).

It's actually difficult to find material that doesn't meet the spec from
pretty much any upholstery shop. So in the end the point is moot.