Pirep: Bison Mountain Bags

I have a couple of these Bison mountain RV flight bags and am pretty happy how much they fit and how they snug up behind the seat backs, almost completely forward of the seat back cross brace. In this example I have a tent, sleeping bag, sleeping pad and pillow. The other holds tools, oil, logbooks, spare tube. Etc.

Thanks for the PIREP. I had not seen these before, and I will be replacing my current cardboard box with one of these bags.

For others, here's the link: http://www.bisonmountainbags.com/RVFlightBags.html

Bison Bags;

They are good stuff, Arlen. Really clean up the interior and organize your mess. Your aircraft is too great to have a cardboard box!

When I saw this pirep, I immediately bought one of these bags. I was struggling with a way to use that space behind the seat for storage.

The bag is very nice. It is light but seems sturdily made. It fits the area well as well, with the little indentation across the mid bottom of the bag. It has a ton of useful pockets for things I had previously kept in one of those plastic lid storage boxes you get at the department stores. I am really looking forward to have a place to store some spare batteries for my headsets. You also get a headset pocket on the lower back.

The bag is quite voluminous inside. The day I carried it to the hangar, I stuffed it with all the supplies I bought that week to fix my flat tire. In the pic, that is a 4.4 pound can of grease. I think the bag will be nice mostly for carrying things you want in the plane but don't need regular access to. That is because the access zipper is located on the side of the bag that wedges up against your seat back. It comes with a shoulder strap and some other straps and buckles in case you want to attach it to the back of your seat. I don't plan too. I'm not sure exactly what I want to load it with yet, so no inside-the-plane pic yet. I think most of us are pilots that pride them selves on being organized. This bag should help!

Andy

bags

I have two. Have had for years and they have been awesome to use for travels to all points of US, Canada and the Bahamas.

One behind my wife (110lbs) keeps the tool box, spare oil,ttubes, tie down spikes and all the heavy stuff.

One behind me keeps the nose plugs, canopy cover and a pile of light weight stuff.

Because of how they fit, there is tons of room for backpacks, sleeping bags etc in the big open square of the baggage compartments. Truly a must have for anyone wishing to organize and secure a lot of stuff for cross country travels.

AndyRV7 said:

It comes with a shoulder strap and some other straps and buckles in case you want to attach it to the back of your seat. I don't plan too.

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I don't think you'd ever want to attach it to the back of your seat... It works best when you tip the seat forward, away from it, and leave the bag in place.

On my tip-up, I took the short straps with the connectors that mate to the connectors on the bag, and tied them to the round cross-bar that actuates the canopy locks. It's positioned almost perfectly for this. The bags do not move, even in light aerobatics. They live in the aircraft full-time, as they weigh almost nothing when empty. Very handy for tossing in your laptop bag, lunch, jacket, etc. before a flight, and lots easier to get them out again at your destination.

For 90% of my flying, two of these bags are my only baggage space, I don't use the main baggage compartment. I have another entry in my W&B spreadsheet for "Bison Baggage" that reflects the further forward CG location. It makes a difference.

These also fit just fine in the 10---although they are narrow enough you could fit three in there----------match the rear seat back slope just fine.

You do loose a precious few cubic inches of storage from the flap rod "tunnel" however

Snowflake said:

It works best when you tip the seat forward, away from it, and leave the bag in place.

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Makes sense now. I never thought of that because my seats don't tip forward very well with the cushions I have. Good to know though!!

The guy that built my plane mounted the ELT just aft of the copilot seat. Otherwise, I would have bought a second one for that side too.

Snowflake said:

For 90% of my flying, two of these bags are my only baggage space, I don't use the main baggage compartment. I have another entry in my W&B spreadsheet for "Bison Baggage" that reflects the further forward CG location. It makes a difference.

Click to expand...

We think almost exactly alike

I have two - one for the canopy cover, tie downs, tool kit, etc. and a second for my travel bag. Unless someone else is going along for the 2-3 day trip, that's all I need.

The Bison Mountain bags are simply awesome.

AndyRV7 said:

Makes sense now. I never thought of that because my seats don't tip forward very well with the cushions I have. Good to know though!!

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My Classic Aero seats won't stay forward if I tip them away from the bison bags, but I can hold the seat and then reach in with my other hand. It's still a lot easier than reaching over the seat and down to the floor of the baggage compartment.

The guy that built my plane mounted the ELT just aft of the copilot seat. Otherwise, I would have bought a second one for that side too.

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Mine did too. I moved the mounting bracket to the center rear of the baggage floor... With longer screws, I made use of the nutplates holding the center channel cover.

The real problem now is that i'd like to put in one of the "hidden" smoke oil tanks that would sit where one of the Bison bags does... I think I need a third seat.

Not flying yet, but I bought my wife one of these for Christmas.

Seems to be very well made, and fits quite nicely behind the seat.

I'm betting I'll wind up buying another one for myself before too long.

-Dan

Snowflake said:

My Classic Aero seats won't stay forward if I tip them away from the bison bags, but I can hold the seat and then reach in with my other hand. It's still a lot easier than reaching over the seat and down to the floor of the baggage compartment.

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That sound great. My seats and seat backs are custom and I can only move the back forward about 3 inches without taking the cushions off. Now that I know everyone else can access the baggage area from the front, I am going to have to take a closer look at things.

Snowflake said:

Mine did too. I moved the mounting bracket to the center rear of the baggage floor... With longer screws, I made use of the nutplates holding the center channel cover.

Click to expand...

I am definitely going to check this out. I have hated the mount since day 1

Thanks for the ideas.

AndyRV7 said:

That sound great. My seats and seat backs are custom and I can only move the back forward about 3 inches without taking the cushions off. Now that I know everyone else can access the baggage area from the front, I am going to have to take a closer look at things.

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Assuming the seat mounting is the same as the standard seats, with hinge at the bottom of the seat back, and the seat cushion sitting on the floor, maybe it's an option to lift the seat pan cushion before tipping the back forward... Kind of like a folding rear seat in a hatchback? Might depend how much velcro you used to hold down the seat bottom...

Snowflake said:

Might depend how much velcro you used to hold down the seat bottom...

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That's exactly the problem. There is a lot.

AndyRV7 said:

That's exactly the problem. There is a lot.

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I'm sure it's overkill. The seats that came with my airplane didn't have *any* velcro, and movement was not an issue. I used the velcro that came with my Classic Aero seats without thinking about it. They're a bear to remove now. I keep meaning to remove some of the velcro during my annual when the seats are out anyway, but I keep forgetting once they're out and when I'm re-assembling I really want to go fly instead...

Thanks for all the great reviews on your bag!! Several of our customers have opted for the Leather versions (Grey and Black). They are slightly heavier of course, but great bags! So glad that a simple "idea" to clean up my plan has resulted in the sale of hundreds of these bags and thousands raised for Warriors and Quiet Waters and Special Operations Warrior Foundation!! Thanks so much for your business!!!

Kurt