PetitCessna : You can get NEW Cessna seat-belt assemblies from here @ $1,000 for ALL 4 SEATS !
Here’s the contact details :
Mark Hines
Parts Sales Representative
Air Power Inc
Van Bortel Aircraft Inc
4912 S Collins Arlington, TX 76018
800-938-7278 Toll Free | 817-557-5857 Local | 817-472-9063
If you are on an N-reg, is mandatory. Be careful in buying cheap. It could be that some guy is trying to sell you the serials leading to the mandatory replacement. demand an 8130-3 release certificate and fitness for your aircraft serial.
If you are on an N-reg, is mandatory.
FALSE
To be mandatory on FAA reg it must be listed in either of these : TCDS, Chapter 4 MM or by AD.
There is only one item in Chapter 4 MM for the 182T – the oil pressure transducer. Nothing about belts in the TCDS and no current ADs on the subject.
Hi Michael. You are correct as well from the point of AD and Maintenace Manual. My understanding refers to the Cessna Warranty guidelines , section 2 , “Cessna-established replacement time limits” which clearly stipulates 10 years with no overhaul permitted. Certainly, Cessna would pull this out of their sleeves even if there were no other reference. So I guess it become owner/camo driven decision.
Cessna can pull whatever they like out of their sleeves (like the recent Section 2B ALS Airworthiness Limitations Section they put in the 210 MM recently) but if ain’t listed in one of the three (AD, Ch 4 or TCDS) then it is discretionary. Cessna Warranty is something else altogether, but I believe the OP is talking about a 10 year old plane so any warranty has long since past.
I often wonder what makes people believe that an aircraft manufacturer can legally force owners to some something with their property…
Only certifying authorities can, as Michael said.
Michael is correct, but most owners are over a barrel by their maintenance company, especially if the “defect” is found at the Annual at which point the only way to move the plane is on the back on a truck 
I know there are differing views on this, and my experience of maintenance is different from that of other owners, but it is a fact that the maint. company makes money on the supply of parts.
The warranty issue is yet another thing.
In reality, an owner has to navigate a complicated political landscape, especially if
The only escape is to take over the maintenance and use freelance people, which takes a lot more contacts on EASA-reg than on N-reg. Or move to the homebuilt world, but then you get many other issues (search EuroGA for “homebuilt”).
Michael is correct, but most owners are over a barrel by their maintenance company, especially if the “defect” is found at the Annual at which point the only way to move the plane is on the back on a truck
This is the last time I am going to write this but: that is fiction, or at least picking out the very very worst examples.
Any maintenance company that regularly forces owners to do items which are not an airworthiness concern would – sooner or later – be in trouble.
Maybe a very few isolated cases in the – apparently – weird UK maintenance scene. But other than that: fiction.
weird UK maintenance scene
Let me make two points:
The very fact that the maint co. is suggesting the original proposition should ring alarm bells, no?
Let’s face it – given the large number of these things which come up mentioned by aircraft owners, nearly all of them are put forward not by the owner but by his maintenance company! I mean, how many owners will want to change seat belts which look great?
No, the aircraft in question is an F-reg. and if the maintenance program (approved by the authority where the aircraft is regisitered) calls for replacement, the MO is right in insisting on doing that.
Our last exchange with Michael clearly was about FAR part 91 maintenance, and again, an FAA shop (or a single IA) will usually not insist on carrying out items which are not airworthiness issues.
