Shoulder Harnesses

[BobDDuck]

I'm not sure I understand, I've got a couple thousand hours putting the shoulder harness on prior to spinning an engine (all GA so no pushback per se) and I've never thought twice about it...are the jets not equipped with inertial reels or something?

They are... Mostly. But they aren't overly comfortable some times, and during push and engine start you often times are reaching for stuff (manuals, acars printer, paperwork etc) all over the cockpit and it's much easier to not be restrained T the shoulders. Plenty of time to put the shoulder straps on for taxi.

 

[Cruise]

@mikecweb Just for reference (don't really care what anyone thinks), after flying for a multitude of airlines, I only recall ever seeing one pilot wear shoulder harnesses in cruise (excluding flights with no real cruise portion like southeast Alaska 737 flights). Otherwise most go on between startup and takeoff, off between gear up and 10k, on again between 18k and final approach, and off again between rollout and gate, all of which just depend on the individual pilot. But I've never been bothered by what anyone else did. Personally my times of concern to wear it are takeoff for an RTO and landing for a sudden stoppage from a higher speed. I figure taxiing you'd have to be taxiing pretty fast to need them. And in cruise... Maybe severe turbulence but usually when turbulence has started to get that bad I'm more focused on slowing down or getting out of it. I've never seen an airline guy put them on in turbulence. I understand the thought about having them in a war bird but I've flown lots of airplanes without them and I personally just don't see it as a huge concern. Maybe I'm wrong.

Yep, it's a 2-point harness for most times...unless 5-point is required. Le'Bus is comfy...no point in restricting it more than necessary.

 

[vheissu]

I'm not sure I understand, I've got a couple thousand hours putting the shoulder harness on prior to spinning an engine (all GA so no pushback per se) and I've never thought twice about it...are the jets not equipped with inertial reels or something?

Unfortunately, some operators have the wording "Seatbelt/Shoulder Harness - Checked L/R" on the checklist that is required to be ran before pushback and start. I think that is where @Autothrust Blue is going with that.

 

[derg]

(checking the FOM before I admit how I roll!)

 

[SurferLucas]

I've flown with some people where it seemed their shoulder harnesses were attached to the squat switch. Those things were off before the gear was up.

Dude, it's a reach from the captains seat to go gear up on the "real" Dash 8! Positive rate, straps off, and gear up in one motion...I've had one bruise from the inertial reel, don't care for more.

 

[thevideographer]

Dude, it's a reach from the captains seat to go gear up on the "real" Dash 8! Positive rate, straps off, and gear up in one motion...I've had one bruise from the inertial reel, don't care for more.

... I've never flown with a captain who had to do that.

 

[derg]

... I've never flown with a captain who had to do that.

I flew with a captain on the 7ER (@Seggy, do you know what that is? ) that literally couldn't reach the gear handle while seated. He'd grab at it like a hungry baby, then loosen his belt in order to reach it.

Then on my legs, I'd just offer to raise it myself.

SO CUTE! D'awwwwww!

 

[Cessnaflyer]

I flew with a captain on the 7ER (@Seggy, do you know what that is? ) that literally couldn't reach the gear handle while seated. He'd grab at it like a hungry baby, then loosen his belt in order to reach it.

Then on my legs, I'd just offer to raise it myself.

SO CUTE! D'awwwwww!

Alligator arms

 

[derg]

My shoulder harness usually is off after we clean up and back on right before the approach check.

(Legal!)

 

[Cessnaflyer]

Dude, it's a reach from the captains seat to go gear up on the "real" Dash 8! Positive rate, straps off, and gear up in one motion...I've had one bruise from the inertial reel, don't care for more.

I'm trying to remember when we went to the Q sim if it was that hard. I flew with some diminutive captain's that had no problem.

 

[Table Two]

How many of you unbuckle your seatbelt in a car when you get *close* to your destination?

That just drives me bonkers

 

[Hacker15e]

I'm not sure I understand, I've got a couple thousand hours putting the shoulder harness on prior to spinning an engine (all GA so no pushback per se) and I've never thought twice about it...are the jets not equipped with inertial reels or something?

Guys don't want to get their white shirts dirty up at the shoulders where the harness straps rub across it.

Personally, I keep 'em hitched up until established at cruise and it doesn't look too turbulent, and put them back on before top of descent. I used to keep them on the entire flight, but through jumpseating and flying at my own regional, I saw that nobody else did that.

I've spent my entire flying career in a 5-point harness, and 2/3 of it in an ejection seat and a parachute harness, so it seemed pretty normal to buckle them all up when I got to the airlines.

The whole point of the harness is to keep you in the seat when something violent happens. We all know that can happen unexpectedly, and even when we may be in a situation where we know we may need it (a big emergency), we may not have the time to be able to put them on before impact.

IMHO the smartest thing is to keep them on 100% of the time while the jet is moving, but I admit I don't do that myself.

 

[Roger Roger]

They are... Mostly. But they aren't overly comfortable some times, and during push and engine start you often times are reaching for stuff (manuals, acars printer, paperwork etc) all over the cockpit and it's much easier to not be restrained T the shoulders. Plenty of time to put the shoulder straps on for taxi.

That's fair, I guess putting the whole shebang on has gotten so automatic for me that I guess if you asked me about it prior to this thread I would have looked at you funny and said "do what now?" Now certain hunks of junk *cough*207s*cough* didn't come with inertial reel shoulder harnesses which is yet another way they're about the dumbest flying machine ever designed...but I digress....I put inertial reels in all of them because there is no way in hell with a fixed harness to have it loose enough to reach the fuel selector AND tight enough to do some good.

 

[Mark815]

If I'm PF I generally keep it on until 10k or so. If I'm PM it usually comes off right after takeoff. Our CRJs only have 1 FMS, on the CA side, so reaching over to mess with it is a pain with the shoulder harnesses still on.

 

[wheelsup]

I can tell how the 4-day will go in the first five minutes based on shoulder harness usage.

 

[trafficinsight]

I never knew my use of shoulder harnesses was so insulting to some folks.


Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

 

[Inverted]

Positive rate, gear up, shoulder straps off. I do it in almost every airplane that I don't plan on going upside down in.

 

[Baronpilot244]

A salty old aviator once told me:

Shoulder harness on = open casket
Shoulder harness off = closed casket

Bp244

 

[Beep]

Hello everyone, my name is beep. I wear my seatbelt and shoulder harness from just prior to the before start checklist until the parking checklist is complete... Unless I have to get out of the seat for some reason.

 

[🦈💜]

I'd happily put up another seat before putting a passenger in the copilot seat in the van when I could help it. In the Navajo it was nearly unavoidable.

More on topic the pax in the Navajo invariably take the shoulder strap and try to just plug it directly into the buckle.

"My seatbelt is broken!"

ugh. And they give you that look the whole time... that accusatory "you gave me a seat belt that doesn't work!" look.

-Fox