SCS Interiors
Pre-Flight
Hi,
What's your choice for aircraft interior? Vinyl, Leather, or Fabric?
What's your choice for aircraft interior? Vinyl, Leather, or Fabric?
Aircraft Interiors
- Thread starter SCS Interiors
- Start date
gismo
Touchdown! Greaser!
When my original seats were wearing out I had a local upholstery shop recover them with good fabric. I like the looks of leather better but it gets kinda sticky in the summer and really cold to the touch in the MN winter. Also I've seen a lot of leather that looked pretty shabby after 5-10 years so it seems that if you're gonna go rawhide you need to use the really good stuff if you want it to last.
Amelia
Pre-takeoff checklist
I chose leather to replace the ultra-shabby leather/fabric seats in my 30-year-old Mooney, and a year later I'm still tickled pink with it, in both hot weather and cold. The interiors shop, Aerocomfort, in San Antonio, TX, did a masterful job, used beautiful top-quality materials, for a quite reasonable price, and were a real joy to work with. Great communication, and the job was done in less than the estimated time. Can't say enough positive things about them.
Arbiter419
Cleared for Takeoff
Fabric. The leather in the 172S I rent doesn't look so hot. I know it probably hasn't been properly cared for, but I don't slide around on fabric either.
Amelia
Pre-takeoff checklist
Thing is, I have small grand-passengers who occasionally need to be mopped up after. Nothing gets clean as easily and thoroughly as leather. And nothing smells as nice to me as really good leather.
EdFred
Taxi to Parking
You have grandkids? Why don't ya just put plastic covers on the seats in the plane like all grandparents do on their couches at home?
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Bob Noel
There are some smells around the airport that I really really really miss (I haven't flown since March).
gismo
Touchdown! Greaser!
My daughter used to complain about the leather smell in my airplane. And she's big time into horses and all that goes with that including lots of leather, go figure.
John Baker
Final Approach
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John Baker
My Warrior has very nice looking vinyl. Really hot in the summer, I get out of my plane and the back of my shirt is soaking wet. I'm in San Diego, so cold is not an issue.
New leather seems to be a strong selling point in normal times and might be worth the investment. In todays market the buyer expects to steal the plane for pennies on the dollar, a couple of orange crates would be good enough for whatever you can squeeze out of it. It would be nuts to spend big bucks on a fancy interior to sell and older plane today.
A school in San Diego was interested in my plane, but they picked up a Warrior for half what I was asking and it had no seats, no carpet, nothing inside except the controls and steam gages.
If my interior needed replacing, I would go with fabric, no two ways about it.
John
New leather seems to be a strong selling point in normal times and might be worth the investment. In todays market the buyer expects to steal the plane for pennies on the dollar, a couple of orange crates would be good enough for whatever you can squeeze out of it. It would be nuts to spend big bucks on a fancy interior to sell and older plane today.
A school in San Diego was interested in my plane, but they picked up a Warrior for half what I was asking and it had no seats, no carpet, nothing inside except the controls and steam gages.
If my interior needed replacing, I would go with fabric, no two ways about it.
John
silver-eagle
En-Route
I like the Airtex interiors. The seats are fabric and the bolsters leather. It's cool, comfortable, and stylish. In my case, a good paint job on the exterior for finish it.
Jaybird180
Final Approach
I can tell you why not...For fear that an overzealous IA may ask for a 337.You have grandkids? Why don't ya just put plastic covers on the seats in the plane like all grandparents do on their couches at home?
Baron2PG
Pre-takeoff checklist
Several years ago I overhauled the interior of an 6-seat Piper Lance using Airtex. Their support and product was very good. After three years the cloth seats in the back looked new but the front co-pilot seat didn't hold up well. Probably because you crawl across that seat to get into the pilot seat. If I did it again AND if I planned to own the plane for many years, I'd go with a high-quality leather because you can clean it much easier.
wabower
Touchdown! Greaser!
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Wayne
I think you'd see the same problems or worse with leather. As an appraiser, I closely examine the condition of numerous interiors each year. Those that require the "scrooch-over" to access the pilot seat are subject to significant wear with at least two required scrooches per flight, and that's assuming the pilot doesn't forget anything. The leather bead on the seat cushion usually wears quickly, and the wear pattern across the seat is very pronounced. If you see the two front seats side-by-side in the hangar during an inspection, the right-hand seat will normally have more rub wear, the pilot seat may have more wrinkles, sags and other signs of lard-butt. Good fabric is much more resiliant and lasts longer, although the Airtex stuff is somewhat short-lived.