07-05-2026, 11:43 AM
For those of you that are removing foam panels from under the seat cushion, you should have several sheets of the foam material under the seats down in the belly. Hopefully this will help your back in the event of a hard vertical crash.
Years ago back 1989, there was a young fellow flying over in Virginia at a gathering . He had been giving rides to people all day. His last passenger ask him if he had enough fuel for the flight and he replied I think so. It quit on take off and went in hard almost vertical. They had no foam under the seats. The passenger survived with no serious injuries. The pilot however was paralyzed from the neck down. He lived for several months but eventually died.
This ship had been featured on the cover of homebuilt magazine just months before.
We’ll never know if the foam would have saved his back. But of course running out of fuel is a definite no no.
Years ago back 1989, there was a young fellow flying over in Virginia at a gathering . He had been giving rides to people all day. His last passenger ask him if he had enough fuel for the flight and he replied I think so. It quit on take off and went in hard almost vertical. They had no foam under the seats. The passenger survived with no serious injuries. The pilot however was paralyzed from the neck down. He lived for several months but eventually died.
This ship had been featured on the cover of homebuilt magazine just months before.
We’ll never know if the foam would have saved his back. But of course running out of fuel is a definite no no.