I'm planning to reupholster the interior (seats, headliner, side panels) of my old Cessna, and have found a lack of information on the internet as to which materials to use and where to buy them. The common refrain is to buy them from aircraft specific sources, usually with aircraft specific prices. This thread is a collaborative attempt to find materials and sources that are cost effective and useful for our purposes. The opinions expressed are my own interpretation. Do your own research and make an informed decision at your own peril if you choose to follow me down this rabbit hole.

Many of you are aware of the need for upholstery material to meet flammability requirements, typically FAR25.853 and applicable subsections, and usually demonstrated with a burn certificate. The linked Advisory Circular 2023-2A discusses some of the methods and criteria: https://www.faa.gov/documentlibrary/med ... 023-2a.pdf

Older aircraft certified under CAR3 and operated in Part 91 have more flexibility. As discussed on page 9-45 of Advisory Circular 43.13-1B shown in the following, "If fabric is bought in bulk to refurbish the interior, seats, and ceiling liners for a CAR-3 aircraft used in part 91 operations, a manufacturer’s statement, declaring that the material meets the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) or similar national standard for either flash resistance or flame resistance, would be acceptable, but only for a CAR-3 aircraft installation. (Refer to 14 CFR part 43, section 43.13(a).) A manufacturer’s statement is acceptable due to neither the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) nor the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) having published an FAA fire standard for either flash or flame resistance for interior materials for CAR-3 aircraft. Since the FAA would accept and recognize a national standard, the mechanic would reference the manufacturer’s statement and the national standard that the material meets in the aircraft’s maintenance records."..."It is recommended that for all CAR-3 interiors to use only fabric and materials that meets the more stringent requirements of part 23, appendix F." https://www.faa.gov/documentLibrary/med ... w-chg1.pdf

In effect, a material meeting a national standard for flash or flame resistance can be used in Part 91 (general aviation as opposed to commercial), provided the aircraft is placarded for no smoking, and supporting documentation describing the material's flammability or flash resistance is included in the logs. The Advisory Circular recommends using Part 23 appendix F materials, but does not require it. This opens the door to my new favorite standard, FMVVS 302.

FMVSS 302 is the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 302, described thus: https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/49/571.302

The FMVSS 302 standard is highly similar in apparatus, test method, and acceptance criteria to FAR25.853. As such, I think it is a reasonable national standard as required in CAR3 installations. It also happens that most all common automotive interior materials meet FMVSS 302.

With that in mind, I'm sourcing both FAR 25.853 and FMVSS 302 materials for my project.

MATERIALS

I've found Naugahyde's website to be particularly useful for vinyl: https://www.naugahyde.com/catalog/

It can filter by specification, including both FAR25.853a and FMVSS 302 materials. Pick a material type, select a color, and the datasheets (including individual burn certs!) are at the bottom of the page. I have a sample of Naugahyde All American in hand, and it looks good for side panels.

For my seating surfaces and headliner, I'm looking at Enduratex products (https://www.enduratex.com/). Some of the materials meets both 25.853 and FMVSS 302, and spec sheets are also readily available.

I went down this road last winter. I ended up using Sport Aircraft seat kits which were great. I put in a standard carpet kit and did my own side panels and headliner with bulk material from Pendleton wool. Being my 182 is CAR 3, the rules were a little less stringent, but after trying to get some burn info on the material to see if it met any sort of “National standard” I ended up just sending the two samples out for testing. Was fairly quick and straight forward and they passed, which is one reason I decided to go with wool in the first place. Cost about $100 or so if I remember right. Good luck on your project!

Those are some helpful links - thank you.

I remember riding in my parents’ station wagon in the summer. It had vinyl seats, and if you wore shorts you stuck to the seats (and also got your legs scorched). Wouldn’t Naugahyde produce a similar comfort level?

The Enduratex is really attractive. It looks like it would make a great headliner.

I'd love Sport Aircraft seats. With a Cessna 205, I'm having a hard time committing $6000 just to the seats.

My current interior is vinyl side panels and headliner, and cloth seats. I'm hoping to remake the sidepanels and headliner in vinyls, and redo the seating surfaces with a breathable automotive material like Enduratex with vinyl bolsters. Samples are on the way.

jcadwell wrote:I'd love Sport Aircraft seats. With a Cessna 205, I'm having a hard time committing $6000 just to the seats.

My current interior is vinyl side panels and headliner, and cloth seats. I'm hoping to remake the sidepanels and headliner in vinyls, and redo the seating surfaces with a breathable automotive material like Enduratex with vinyl bolsters. Samples are on the way.

I'm in the same boat. Beautiful seats for sure, but I can buy a full set for my 206 from Airtex for $2500. I've had great luck with airtex in the past and for that price difference I think that's the way I'm going. I have no interest in learning seat upholstery work. Haha.

jcadwell wrote:I'd love Sport Aircraft seats. With a Cessna 205, I'm having a hard time committing $6000 just to the seats.

My current interior is vinyl side panels and headliner, and cloth seats. I'm hoping to remake the sidepanels and headliner in vinyls, and redo the seating surfaces with a breathable automotive material like Enduratex with vinyl bolsters. Samples are on the way.

I feel this pain also but to a lesser extant, I have a 150 and $1650 for just the 2 seats is a ton and probably 5-10% of the worth of the plane if you want to look at it that way. I will be getting them anyways as they are the best ones on the market.

Im following. Any good threads that document making new side panels? My airtex is falling apart rapidly.

I made my boat seats from the Naugahyde all american. Its nice material. I like using Sailrite.com for materials and advise.

BTW, I have vinyl seats. Haven't had a complaint about them. Headliner, carpet and sidepanels have go to go though.

Bacho wrote:Im following. Any good threads that document making new side panels? My airtex is falling apart rapidly.

I made my boat seats from the Naugahyde all american. Its nice material. I like using Sailrite.com for materials and advise.

BTW, I have vinyl seats. Haven't had a complaint about them. Headliner, carpet and sidepanels have go to go though.

This is a tangent approach to what has been mostly discussing in this thread, but kydex is a nice utility-style interior option. I've played with it for my Scout and had good success forming it both with and without heat. In Alaska we use it for any work plane interior. It's half the weight of aluminum for the same thickness but of course not quite as strong, and it's much easier to work with.

I bought some 0.030" thick stuff off amazon which would be perfect for a lightweight light-duty interior for non-work planes such as my scout or basically any plane on this site. At work we use 0.060" stuff which can handle commercial-duty thrashing of cargo.

A guy on the super cub site figured it out to a T and even if you aren't doing Kydex, you will likely enjoy looking through his work. Killer stuff.

https://www.supercub.org/forum/showthre ... ior-Panels