The International Cessna 170 Association

Hello, I am greatful to be flying a 170. My significant other points out the lack of shoulder belts in the 1948 170 ser# 18623, so I called cessna and found they offer a these at 514.00 for one side and 728.00 for other and to anticipate 5-10 hrs. at $100 or so an hour to install in black only. And maybe $2000 is as good as it gets, and we are all certainly worth that, but thought I would ask if any seasoned owners know of any more attractive options available? And thanks to all for all helpful insights on panel lights and heater issues. Tim

Hi Tim,

I am sure many will chime in here. I just purchased the B. A. S. Inertial Reel harnesses. The come in black, stock Cessna colors, or custom colors. Base price $1475. Not installed yet but if you search the forum you will find much discussion about this.

Good luck!

Bob

https://basinc-aeromod.com/cessna.php

There certainly are a couple different ones available... Hooker and BAS are 2 of them. i have a set of older shoulder/lap harness i removed from my plane when i 'upgraded' to the BAS ones. install was easy and they function beautifully however i have read since that some don't like these slow, free release of the shoulder portion of the harness. i actually saw a set that were for sale because of this... he was looking for a more secure shoulder portion.
check ACS as well ... https://www.aircraftspruce.ca/catalog/a ... abelts.php they have both lap and shoulders that you can add. WagAero has them too.... https://www.wagaero.com/cessna-170a-b-s ... s-kit.html

Tim please try out the "advanced search" feature of this website. Be prepared to read tons of good info, opinions and possibly some fluff (most likely written by me ).
My input: I have the BAS, installed them , like how they work day in and day out and have used them when I wish I hadn't needed their purpose. In that one case their performance was excellent.

In a nut shell.

The issue is how to attach the shoulder harness to the structure. Cessna did not add nut plates to the rear carry through spar for this purpose til '52.
Here are the systems that address that:

#1 premium system is the STC'd BAS inertia reel system.
#2 Hooker STC'd mount for fixed shoulder harnessess.
#3 Wag Aero STC'd mount for fixed shoulder harnessess.
I only list the Wag STC #3 over the #2 Hooker system because the Wag install requires going through the outside top cabin skin and the Hooker system does not.

Option #4 would be to add the nut plate to the rear carry through for a fixed shoulder harness system. There is no STC to do this. One would have to think along the lines installing the nut plates is a minor alteration. Installing any shoulder harness is easy legality wise per FAA guidance so long as no major alteration is done in the process.

I installed the Hooker mount and then used surplus inertia reels attached to that for my A model system. The Hooker mount is a major alteration covered by their STC. The actual harnesses I used was installed under a minor alteration.

However you go about it, I recommend the inertial reels, mainly due to ease of operation of the flaps.. Yes, you can slip your shoulder out of a fixed harness to operate the flaps but, in my mind, that’s about the phase of flight where you need the shoulder harness most.

I installed the BAS inertia reel belts on C-FIDO, my '53 170B
I owned a '52 model years ago and had the BAS inertia reel harness and tail pull installed along with Rosen visors.
When I bought FIDO, it only had lap belts, no tail pull or visors; it has a one piece windshield and cross brace (installed for float and ski operation).
The instructions have a special note for 170 and 170A models in reference to installing nut plates.
I had to install one because for some reason, on the passenger side, where there should have been a nut plate, all that was there was an empty hole, no nutplate.
Using a nutplate as a guide, I drilled the rivet holes and the 13/32 hole in the carry-through spar, slid a nutplate in there and moved it over to position using a magnet, as per instructions and installed using 3/32 Zinc plated pop rivets as per instructions.
Sounds harder than it was.
The hardest part I found was going ahead and drilling holes in my plane...
I had Hooker harnesses in a couple of airplanes. They are great, but you end up either loosening the shoulder straps or slipping out of them to reach and set the flaps, at the most critical phases of flight.
I have been happy with the BAS systems in this and other planes. Pricy, but well worth it, as are Rosen visors.
JD

don't wreck and you don't have a problem1