Update #26

The world's best CH-701 seats.

We make seats!

Once we get the 701 flying we have big plans. We intend to fly to airshows, conventions, fly-ins, and eventually touch down in each of the 48 contiguous states. That's a lot of time to be sitting down in an airplane that might hit 100mph, tops, so we thought our seats should be as comfortable as possible. We started by asking Mike and Jude Dennis, of Oregon Aero, the world's best seat makers, to help us out. They were generous enough to take three students in hand, lend us their factory and Tony Erickson, their head seat designer. Together they made two wonderful seat cores one memorable Saturday.
Then, after a trip to Boeing Surplus where we found some of their surplus leather, we contacted Charlie Bernert. Charlie had previously allowed us to store the 701 in his hangar and we knew that he was doing some aircraft upholstery. He introduced us to Jeremiah Mardis and within a week we had seats that will make everyone that sits on them both comfortable, and envious.

	We found a pile of tanned cowhides at Boeing Surplus. They were marked at $20/lb and there was a scale nearby. They ranged from 6-9 lbs @ and we picked out a 6 pounder that had no rips, tears, or holes. We brought the hide to Charlie Bernert and he introduced us to Jeremiah. Charlie had met Jeremiah at Clover Park Technical College in Lakewood, WA, when they took the upholstery course. The course is a 6 quarter program.
Jeremiah built a cardboard mockup to hold the foam core in the correct position. He then designed the panels that he would cut out of leather and drew the design on the foam. One at a time Jeremiah cut panels and fit them to the actual seat core. This is a custom, one-of-a-kind seat.
	Using the heavy-duty, long-arm sewing machine, Jeremiah sewed the panels to each other. Some were plain seams, some were doubled, and the seams on the corners were 'French seams', that is they were sewn together, then the seam allowances were folded back underneath the surface and sewn down on both sides.

Each of the panels was individually drawn, transferred, cut, fit, sewn, and checked.
	Here Jeremiah is cutting a flap that will be attached to the back of the seat. It will have Velcro on the bottom and will attach to the baggage shelf. This will prevent the seat from slipping out of position and anything from sliding down underneath the seat.

Jeremiah's craftsmanship is evident in the finished product. We are very grateful to him for his time and skill, and to Mr. Bernert for the use of his facility.