Dominator pilots keep an eye on this.

[Joe Pires]

I was at an EAA fly in breakfast last Saturday. An old man, probably in his 80's came up to me and asked if I was the owner of Peg. I said that I was and he said your seat bracket is broken.

I finished eating and went out to inspect and sure enough one of the two aluminum braces that hold the front of the seat on was broken. We explored possible solutions which included having one of my friends fly to our strip and fabricate the replacement, while I waited for him to come back.

But as it turned out one of the hangar tenants had a suitable piece of stock in in about 15 minutes we were patched up and I was in the air.

My seat is now supported in the front with steel not aluminum. I did not have a particularly hard landing, so I am not sure if this was missed on pre-flight or if it happened on that landing.

So if you fly a Dominator and your seat front is supported by an aluminum brace, consider replacing it. Or at the very least make sure to preflight this weak point very carefully each time.

[scottessex]

Thanks for the "heads up"

[edee61]

Thanks!!!!!!! will be checking.

[gyromike]

Joe,

Where was the break? Around a bolt hole?

[Jim Edwards]

I had this happen twice on my Bensen. Broke at the lower bolt hole, about 1/2 inch up. I also replaced w/steel. Brock seat tank. I weigh 200#. Have 300 hours on her.

[PW_Plack]

Has anyone talked with Ernie? You may just be passing the stress along. It might need some sort of shock mount.

[Penguin]

Glad some sharp eyes pointed it out to you, Joe.
It's hard to fly straddling the keel and hanging onto the cyclic!

I put a steel loop under my seat bolted to the diagonal braces to the mast in the rear.
Then the front mount is an aluminum deep V similar to what Ernie uses but more nearly vertical.
I then borrowed from MissFit and gusseted the V from top to bottom (less a notch for the cyclic hardware) with a light steel plate riveted in place.
It's not light, but my butt will stay in place.

[GyroRon]

Bensens and many other gyros have the front of the seat supported the same way, so this is not just for dominator pilots to be aware of. My first gyro had the same part fail, and I too replaced with steel. None of my dominators have had this issue.

[phantom]

this is one of the things that I changed when I built my dom this spring . I used the same setup that I have been using on all of my gyros for many years. I use a one inch end mill to cut the brace for a close fit around the seat frame and rivit a plate across the two,even if one side breaks I will stay in place.

Norm

[Joe Pires]

Joe,

Where was the break? Around a bolt hole?
Just above the bolt.

[Doug Riley]

Remember that Bensen specified a very squishy seat. The cheapskate version involved seat springs made out of slices of a truck inner tube, streched across the aluminum frame. The deluxe version used bungee-cord loops to accompish the same thing. In either case, the rubber springs were topped off with a Kapok seat cushion that doubled as a Coast Guard Type 4 personal flotation device (for unexpected water landings).

Ken Brock got us started using hard seat tanks. They don't absorb shocks much, so the front angle braces take a pounding.

[gyromike]

Also make sure that all components have been deburred and chamfered, and all scratches (stress risers) have been polished out.

Sharp corners love to crack.

[dineshkkk]

Any pics please!

[Redbaron]

Thanks for the heads up, definatelly gonna inspect said brackets closser on preflights.