Repairing the cockpit seat covers

Suomeksi

This blog talks about the situation of the Caravelle’s cockpit seats and their covers.

There are four seats in Caravelle’s cockpit: the captain’s and co-pilot’s seats in front, the third crew member’s seat at the back on the right-hand side and an auxiliary seat on the left-hand side, located on top of the box containing the manual library. The third crew member seat can be moved into multiple positions along a curved rail fastened on the floor. The auxiliary seat has no seatback and is literally shaped like a box. The seat frames are made of metal sheet, they are in good condition and their adjustment controls seem to work, so there is no need for repairs.

Photo 1: There are several levers for position control under and beside the pilots’ seats.

The seat covers were removed to be cleaned and repaired. There was a multitude of snap fasteners to be unfastened in the most difficult places! The seatback covers of the pilots’ seats are in fair condition, both covers have a small worn area and a hole in the upper corner, probably where all visitors have been leaning when talking to the pilots. The captain’s seat cushion cover is very worn and is almost transparent in a large area. It will need thorough repair or renewal. The co-pilot’s seat cover is not in as poor condition as the captain’s. The third crew member seat covers are almost undamaged.

Photo 2: The captain’s seat cushion cover has worn thin. Photo by Jouko Tarponen.

The cover for the rectangular auxiliary seat is badly broken on top and on the side. The fabric cover has been made to hide the original leather-covered seat cushion, which remains inside in very poor condition. The padding will have to be replaced and probably also the top part of the fabric cover.

All seat covers are light grey but partly so dirty that they have turned dark – or this is what we first thought. The third crew member seat cover was taken off for a wash test. The test proved that the dark grey colour is not dirt but probably very close to the original fabric colour and the lighter part has faded in the sun. The original colour has remained unchanged on the snap fastener strips under the seat, on the rear side of the seatbacks and their seat pockets.

Photo 3: The seat covers have partly faded in the sun.

At this point a sub-plot must be told. When the storage shelves of the restoration workshop in the Finnish Aviation Museum were cleared, a cardboard box was found, and it was labelled “Finnair upholstery patterns”. The museum let us have a look at the material. The patterns, made of cardboard, proved to contain a good number of patterns for Caravelle seat covers. Among the 50+ sets of patterns there were four piles for Caravelle’s cockpit seats. We made copies from these patterns on non-woven fabric and took the copies to Turku to be test-fitted on the pilots’ seats. We were not lucky this time: none of the patterns found in the museum matched the seat covers on the flight deck of our Caravelle. Obviously the pilots’ seats on the Finnair aircraft were different from the ones on the SAS aircraft (our Caravelle was originally the SAS SE-DAF). Finding the correct patterns for the seat covers would have been a real stroke of luck, but it will be possible to repair the covers even without the patterns.

Photo 4: The seat cover and other upholstery patterns found in the Finnish Aviation Museum.

Plans for patching and partly replacing the fabric on the pilots’ seat covers and the auxiliary seat cover have been made. The following step will be to choose a new fabric which matches the original one. The aim is to have all flight deck seat covers repaired and the seat belts maintained before the spring season in the Caravelle refurbishment begins in March. There is a load of work ahead.

Photos by Erja Reinikainen except if otherwise mentioned.