As far as weakening the structure, my initial thought would be that it would be no problem as long as you put a doubler ring epoxied on the inside of the skin. The width and thickness of the ring I will leave to the other structural experts to argue.
As to the idea of the window I can give a few insights from my experience. I have both looked out and taken plenty of pictures out of windows in a Cherokee and my KR. I have also looked out and taken pictures out of the little opening vent window on the pilots side of Cherokees. From my experience the pictures you get through the open window are several orders of magnitude better than what you get through the plexiglass. I would definitely make it an opening window. You also need to remember that, with no exceptions that I know of, all KRs generally have their bellies soaked with oil most of the time. I think a window would be hard to see through most of the time, let alone to take pictures through it unless it is opened. Another thing to consider is that if you have a window open on the bottom you need to watch out for exhaust gasses getting into the cockpit. At the very least put in a carbon monoxide detector and make sure that it is not a problem before you go and do an hour photo shoot. It may be fine, may need some kind of deflector in front of the window to direct the exhaust down, may have airflow from your other cockpit ventilation come in and blow out the hole in the bottom so you won't get any exhaust in. Hard to say what you will get. One more consideration is that you won't be able to keep a KR straight and level while you are bent over the passenger seat looking at the camera for very long. If you just snap occasional pictures you may be fine. If this is something you do professionaly and you need to take pictures of specific things from low altitudes You should consider some kind of camera mount and some way to look at what you are shooting and out the windshield at the same time or set it up so you can fly while the passenger takes pictures through the hole with the camera between his legs. Good luck. Serge F. Vidal wrote: This one is for structure experts. I have been dreaming for a while of cutting a window (a clear hatch, if you prefer) under the passenger seat. This would be a round window, about 12 cm (say 6 inches) in diameter. I would use it when I fly solo, with the passenger seat bottom cushion removed, as a camera window, to take pictures (verticall, or at a deep angle). Ideally, it could open, so that I can get a camera lens directly through it. Questions: - Is it feasible without weakening the structure? - If yes, is 12cm / 6 inches diameter OK? - How much must I reinforce (how thick must the reinforcement flange be?) - How thick is the floor at that place? - Any idea for the opening mechanism? Serge Vidal KR2 ZS-WEC Tunis, Tunisia _______________________________________________ see KRnet list details at http://www.krnet.org/instructions.html
