etn wrote:
Absolutely. As far as I am concerned it’s part of my pre-takeoff checklist, together with fuel, ignition, seatbelts etc.
Same with the little Piper PA28 – the seats can slide back, so you need to make darn sure they are latched properly.
gallois wrote:
Probably. But the Robin seat lock actually works well but it does need to be checked and not just by jiggling back and for. The lever needs to be properly located in the slot and then slid forward to lock it in place. Some forget this and treat it like a car seat.
Absolutely. As far as I am concerned it’s part of my pre-takeoff checklist, together with fuel, ignition, seatbelts etc.
Snoopy wrote:
Cessna apparently even provided this modification free of charge via their service centers.tmp_Service_Bulletin_SEB07_5_Rev_1_pdf
Thanks. This bulletin doesn’t apply to the “restart” Cessnas (e.g. 172R, 172S). Maybe they have a different seat rail design?
Cessna apparently even provided this modification free of charge via their service centers.
tmp_Service_Bulletin_SEB07_5_Rev_1_pdf
There’s also this option
https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/pspages/saftstop.php
For those flying a Cirrus SR2X it might be worthwhile to know this:
I was taught to rest fingers on the seat adjustment lever, move the seat and feel it completely latching in place (= lever fully down and locked).
For our C185 we have these. With that you have 2 possibilities, you either place it so that you can move the seat back enough to climb in and out of the plane and it there. In that case if the seat unlock you at least in up in a position from which you can still control the plane, but you would probably get very surprised by the seat moving back. The other solution, which I’m using now is to position it right behind my seat once I’ve moved it to the correct position for me and making sure it’s correctly locked. And since I’m flying with my seat all the way forward, if the normal seat locking mechanism fails it would mean that the seat won’t move back at all, only wiggles a little between this stop mechanism and the pin forward which stops the seat from getting out of its rail.
Note that in a C185 you would need quite some skills to get in and out without moving the seat back, especially if, like me, you fly with the seat all the way forward…
172driver wrote:
So do our club ones. How well that works in extremis I hope I never find out.
Couldn’t you try it by having a second pilot in the RH seat flying the plane in a climb and then deliberately releasing the LH seat lock?
Snoopy wrote:
The Cessna I rent has a seat slide stop inertia reel STC.
Clever! Do you have a reference to that STC?
So do our club ones. How well that works in extremis I hope I never find out.
There are solutions.
The Cessna I rent has a seat slide stop inertia reel STC.
This is a known ‘thing’ on the Robin front seats from the DR.200 series onwards. The seat levers are on the inboard side of the bottom seat cushion, next to the flap lever. There are three positions:
A lot depends on how much use the mechanism has had. A weak spring may never engage on its own. A friend lent his DR.250 to someone who had the seat unlatch in the flare and run all the way aft, resulting in a hard landing.
Once you know what to look for, it shouldn’t be a problem: if the seat lever isn’t obviously all the way forwards, it isn’t engaged. Just look at the lever, or put your hand on it, then make sure it’s locked. It may be necessary to move the seat and start again to be sure.
An article from 2009 in French with some diagrams explaining the mechanism. The summary would be: ‘it’s not like a car seat; you have to actively engage the lock’.
I have actually had the opposite on a Comanche. I tried to run the seat back in flight, but each time I unlocked it, the seat would only travel forwards. I gave up on the third attempt, with my knees under my chin. Luckily I didn’t have to use the rudder much on landing 
