The center latch from PlaneAround is an aftermarket mod in reponse to Van's SB on a center latch mechanism. Van's SB latch is ugly and of dubious benefit. The PA system uses a rotating cam in the middle of the bottom edge of the door that is acutated by the exisiting latching mechanism. Basically as you rotate the door handle, the cam rotates over the door sill and sucks the door in ensuring the door is in proper alignment before the pins entend fully into the fuse. This eliminates the potetnial of a pin accidentally extending between the door and the fuse skin instead of properly into the fuse. This was the cause of a couple of door departures.
So I had already cut the racks and rods to account for the new gempotry requred by adding the rotating came in the middle of the door. Now I had it cut a hole in the inner door shell to install the cam gear assembly. Using the info in the PA instructions I located and cut the hole for the assmebly. I also cut additional holes in the latch pocket to account for changes in how the rack and rod setup operates for the center latch. The door handle will now be rotated 180 deg vs. 90 that the stock system does and that makes the moving parts move a greater distance hence the need for holes on both sides of the latch pocket.
