Installing rear seat jacks in Arrow II

[Morgan3820]

I have given this some thought and have not been able to come up with a clear choice wrt the orientation/location of the jacks. Up would allow debris to enter. Down or aft may make it difficult to insert the jack plugs. Planning to use the standard jack plate from Aircraft Spruce.
What are your experiences?

 

[Jesse Saint]

I usually install them somewhere in the panel with the wire leads pointing forward, but with the wire leads pointing down there isn't much danger of debris problems because the jack is open. A little bit of dust or sand could get in there, but it should just fall right through and the jack should still work.

 

[Clip4]

I agree you don’t want the jack positioned where junk can fall into it.

 

[SCCutler]

I like down, because of the prior-referenced debris issue, and also because it minimizes the chances of snagging the plugs and damaging them when headset is plugged in.

 

[asicer]

Seems to me that there's some confusion in terminology. When you say "wire leads", are you referring to the ones permanently attached to the headset plug? Or are you referring to the ones going to the audio panel?

 

[Morgan3820]

The ones attached to the headset

 

[Morgan3820]

I see this as a compromise between ease of plug insertion versus snagging the wire leads, given that the person in the back is often unfamiliar with the equipment and th pilot’s difficulty in assisting the rear seater.

 

[flyingron]

I'd use something like this:

To mount the jacks in some position (vertical or horizontal). Having the stick straight out of the wall (like most front panels are) is a way to get someone to snap off the plug.

 

[James331]

Aft, looks streamlined and fast

“If it looks good, it will fly good.”
— Bill Lear

 

[Morgan3820]

Agreed, so how would you orient the headset leads?

 

[hindsight2020]

The ones in my arrow rear seats are oriented with the holes facing down on the sidewall. 6 consecutive years with 0-6 year old and wife in the back and no ripped leads or connection issues. N=1 and all that jazz.

 

[chemgeek]

My rear seat jacks are mounted on top of the center tunnel between the back seat floorboards. Jacks point up (inserted downward). No issues with debris making them non-functional. In this position, mounting the jacks near the floor facing aft would increase the chance of stepping on them and breaking them off. Pointing up you would have to forget to remove them after flight, and really kick them hard to break or bend them.

If mounted on the side walls, the item in post #8 facing aft might make sense if it does not intrude on passenger space. I guess it really depends on where you are considering mounting the jacks, and what kind of space is available behind the jacks in those locations. In a Grumman, the floor tunnel location makes sense for a variety of reasons.

 

[flyingron]

Mine point inward toward the center.