Question: I saw Chucks post saying never drill a mast at seat back, and post#30 mentions the mast should not be drilled above the seat. I'm guessing this is simply for brackets for seatbelts, etc, without additional support like cheekplates? I've seen folding masts above the seat, but since they are supported by additional plating for strength, this wouldn't be a problem? I'm not an engineer, so I don't know all of the stress value calculations. I've read that Aluminum has a shear strength of 30 ksi, but I don't know at what thickness of aluminum they are referring to. This was T6061.
I may want to have a folding mast on a gyro when I get one, so I'm interested in finding out what calculations I would need to know and perform to insure that any change in the mast would be properly supported for safety sake.