what are these small cables under the seats?

starshippe · March 29, 2013, 01:42:01 AM

the cable looks like an old remote camera shutter clicker. there is one under each seat in our cessna 172. on one end is a thumb activation lever, the other looks like it screws into something. the cables are grey, and about a foot long.
what could it possibly screw into?
i didn't check the rear seats.

i'm dyin' to know......

bill

Cliff_Chambliss · March 29, 2013, 02:02:18 AM

A picture would be nice. However a couple years ago Cessna made available a cable seat stop and that may be what you are seeing. One end of the cable should be fastened to the seat frame and the other end secured on the floor.

starshippe · March 29, 2013, 02:08:21 AM

ok will get a pic next op.
they are not connected to anything. the free end with the threads is tywrapped in position on one of the vertical front seat supports, pointing forward. there is about an inch of action in the cable.
the handles for the seat stop releases are in the middle of the seat.

bill

ol'fido · March 29, 2013, 02:09:36 AM

Quote from: Cliff_Chambliss on March 29, 2013, 02:02:18 AM
A picture would be nice. However a couple years ago Cessna made available a cable seat stop and that may be what you are seeing. One end of the cable should be fastened to the seat frame and the other end secured on the floor.

"This is the end of Devil 505. Say goodbye..."

coudano · March 29, 2013, 02:39:04 AM

Quote
"This is the end of Devil 505. Say goodbye..."

aw you can't cut that quote off...

a2capt · March 29, 2013, 03:22:50 AM

That is to pull the lever to adjust the tilt on the seat back.

Most of them are dead/abandoned under there anymore.. when seats get repaired/re-covered those tend to not get re attached.

starshippe · March 29, 2013, 03:27:29 AM

ah! so there should be some where to attach them back again so they will work?

thanks much,

bill

a2capt · March 29, 2013, 03:34:32 AM

If the rest of the mechanics is left, yes. The stuff was pretty flimsy, and when the upholstery people come along .. a lot of that function usually just gets tossed. I've had seat backs bust in flight before due to that thing letting go, and I have been in some aircraft that still had it working, so that leads me to believe there was not an AD to disable it, at least. If I recall it right, there's a cog and lever that sorta resembles the one way lock on a come-along, that the rope pulls the lever out of, allowing the default/neutral position of the seat back to be set. It's usually on the side of the seat, and it's connected by that rope being wrapped around a bar, and spring loaded to stay in.

starshippe · March 29, 2013, 03:37:27 AM

thanks much for the info. i'm gonna check and see whats still there.

bill

NIN · March 29, 2013, 03:42:15 PM

Careful, it attaches to the Bomb Bay Doors in the 182s.

Luis R. Ramos · March 29, 2013, 07:15:44 PM

Drat, Nin, you took the idea that was forming in my mind!

I was thinking more along the line that when CAP mission gets changed by Congress to that of the Second World War those would be the bomb releases...

:angel:

Flyer

a2capt · March 29, 2013, 08:05:52 PM

LOL .. the two go hand in hand, but one of those IFR afternoons spent at the airport pilot shop revealed a story about how these two guys strapped a Chevy shortblock under a C170 and secured it with rope through the doors, wrapped around the thing.

The method of jettisoning it was open the doors and use a hatchet on the rope, with the target being some derelict outbuilding, and this all took place from a local private strip some many years back.

So when I hear of the armed CAP missions dropping stuff, I think of this crude method.. and the cables under the seat, I'll admit, did bring the visions to my mind as well..

NIN · March 29, 2013, 10:49:02 PM

Quote from: a2capt on March 29, 2013, 08:05:52 PM
LOL .. the two go hand in hand, but one of those IFR afternoons spent at the airport pilot shop revealed a story about how these two guys strapped a Chevy shortblock under a C170 and secured it with rope through the doors, wrapped around the thing.

The method of jettisoning it was open the doors and use a hatchet on the rope, with the target being some derelict outbuilding, and this all took place from a local private strip some many years back.

So when I hear of the armed CAP missions dropping stuff, I think of this crude method.. and the cables under the seat, I'll admit, did bring the visions to my mind as well..

Having access to a Twin Otter with a jump door does wonders for your ability to huck stuff out and let gravity do the rest....