The Cessna 120-140 Association Forum

do you have to have complete upholstery I am missing headliner ,baggage compartment and carpet, seats have been recovered with faa approved material don t know if this is legal to fly? I know caa and faa differ legal help is needed not opinions thanks .

Will help the gurus , if you would describe your aircraft - as delivered configuration, model, serial number, etc

Just redid my seats and the FAA guidance is difficult to parse. But there was no "flammability" standard defined by the FAA (CAA at that time) so if your materials meet any recognized standard that they are flame resistant you should be ok. Certainly the current FAA standard qualifies, but ASTM, Auto and others also would.

I see nothing that says you have to have the rest of the interior and cant just delete it. That is what I have done. No headliner, no door cards, only two small carpet patches under heels. Certainly "nothing" seems to pass flamability test!

I do have a drape/partition that blocks off the tailcone. You don't want things sliding back into the controls.

Its been annualled like this several times, and at the end of the day if your IA approves its good, right.

I would look at this in reverse. Instead of asking to show that the interior can be left out, I would ask “where do the regs specify that I must have it?” I have no baggage carpet. Why should I? It’s not in any Op Lims or equipment lists.

I don't think you will find a clear cut answer anywhere.

Some things in the parts catalog are listed as "optional". Clearly, they are not required. Does that mean that anything not listed as optional is required? If something is required by the certification standard (CAR4a in our case), the it must be present. Part 91 also lists required equipment for particular flight conditions. You won't find any mention of headliners, carpets or door cards. On the other hand, it would be difficult to argue that you don't need at least one seat.

So, in this case, I think common sense is the closest you're going to get to a legal answer.

TCDS says you must have CAR required equipment (ie tomato flames) plus 201,202, 403 and 601, which are front wheels, tailwheel, AFM and flaps.

My as delivered W&B report includes and equipment list. On that list several items are marked through as not installed (radio, speaker) and some are clearly configuration items that you can only have one of (eg pilot brakes or dual brakes). On that list appears "upholstery soundproofing and trim" at 30 lbs. Removing that stuff and adjusting W&B seems to be just another factory configuration.

I have zero interior, one day maybe I’ll get around to it, I can’t imagine why it would be required equipment.