I live it almost on a daily basis. I look at it this way it's all black and white. When you try to read into it is where it gets sideways. The regulations were written by lawyers with a broad brush. I have read this article an number of times and shake my head every time. Why didn't the writer just use approved products to begin with and save the hassle. My suggestion is if your worried about it just use certified materials or at least have what you want to use flame tested prior to starting work. Customer needs to know this in advance to save him in the long run. A lot ofthe mechanics out there have no idea of what they are looking at and since interiors are allowed to be done by owners I am always amazed at what I see. I have purchased and sold material to some of my maintenance customers over the years for them to have their friends do the work just so I could have no worries signing off an annual inspection. I can't ground the airplane but I can refuse to sign it off, that's my CYA move.

Two of the suppliers I use on a regular basis are Douglass interior products in Bellevue WA and Aircraft Interior Products in Witchita. Coming from my side of both industries I know there is a lot of conflicting information about the rules and regulations, what can be done and what can't. One thing to keep in mind is that is the aircraft owners responsibity to keep his aircraft in an airworthy condition not the mechanics. Use of approved material helps him do that.

The regulations can be very confusing but they need not be. First off unless you are working on aircraft with weight in excess of 12,500 pounds you are dealing with FAR 23.853. This usually requires just a horizontal burn certificate. Skandia is a great source and can provide Burn Certifications for materials as well. As for seat suspensions Airtex Interiors carries a product that works fine. The material used by Cessna is a type of Herculite (sp), Beechcraft also uses the same type material and calls it out as Herculite in some there older parts manuals. It is not cost effective to use materials from the aircraft manufacturers that makes Skandia or Airtex sound options. Your best bet for aircraft upholstery is to use materials from sources that provide Burn Certifications, some include them in price of yard goods other charge an additional fee. Either way the material most likely will be certified for FAR 25.853 which is more stringent. This subject is near and dear to my heart as aircraft represent about 80% of my work load. I am also in a unique position as I am a licensed mechanic and inspector and provide log book entries and document packages with my work. Documentation is most often missing from the majority of aircraft I inspect. When in doubt use certified materials and give owners documentation.

I have been thinning with Toluene it works great. Xylol or xylene is sold at big box stores as an alternate to Toluene but it does not work as well.