Type Rating Knowledge › Cessna 172S NAV III
Cabin, safety and emergency equipment
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Two kinds of seat
The front seats and the rear seat are not the same design, and the difference matters when you are briefing a passenger. The two crew seats adjust forward and aft with a handle below the centre of the frame, up and down with a large crank under the RIGHT corner, and their backs are INFINITELY adjustable using a release button in the centre front, just under the seat bottom. One behaviour worth knowing before it surprises you: on an UNOCCUPIED seat, the back folds forward automatically whenever that release button is pulled up. The rear is a single bench with a FIXED one-piece bottom and a THREE-POSITION reclining back, worked by a lever below the centre of its frame. Headrests are fitted front and rear and are adjusted simply by pushing them up or down.
- FRONT INERTIA REEL: Overhead inertia reel for the front seats, on the CENTRELINE of the upper cabin. It locks up under sudden deceleration and is free the rest of the time.
- REAR INERTIA REEL: Overhead inertia reel for the rear seats — OUTBOARD of each passenger, not on the centreline like the front pair.
- SHOULDER PORTION: The shoulder half of the integrated assembly, paying out freely from the reel so the upper torso can move.
- LAP RETRACTOR: Retractor assembly for the lap portion. No more than one additional inch of belt should come out once the lap belt is in place on the occupant.
- LINK: The link you grasp with one hand and, in a single motion, extend and insert. Shoulder and lap are one assembly, not two belts.
- BUCKLE: Buckle with a release button. Positive locking has occurred when a distinctive snap is heard — the sound is the check.
- OCCUPANT: The restrained occupant — lap belt snug and low on the waist as worn normally in flight.
- FRONT SEAT: Vertically adjusting crew seat: handle below the centre of the frame for fore and aft, a crank under the right corner for height, and an infinitely adjustable back with a release button in the centre front.
- REAR BENCH SEAT: Fixed one-piece bottom with a THREE-POSITION reclining back on a lever below the centre of the frame — not the infinitely adjustable back of the front seats.
- LEFT DOOR: Entry door with the KEY OPERATED LOCK — left door only. Inside handle has three positions: OPEN, CLOSE and LOCK, spring loaded to CLOSE.
- RIGHT DOOR: Entry door at the front passenger position. No key lock — to lock the aeroplane you lock this one from inside, then close and key-lock the left.
- OPENABLE WINDOW: Openable window in each cabin door, held closed by a detent latch on the lower edge. Either may be opened at any speed up to 163 KIAS. The rear side and rear windows are fixed.
- BAGGAGE AREAS (2): Two areas: behind the rear seat to the aft cabin bulkhead, and a further area AFT of that bulkhead. Reached through a lockable door on the left side or from inside the cabin.
- BAGGAGE NET: Net with tiedown straps, secured to tiedown rings provided in the airplane.