US Patent 7341309 Passenger seating with variable length seat bottom

A seat bottom assembly for a passenger seat, includes a flexible component; and a structural support member underlying the flexible component. The support member is selectively moveable between a first, forward position in which the seat bottom has a nominal length in a longitudinal direction, and a second, rearward position in which a portion of the flexible component bends downward over the structural component such that at least a portion of the seat bottom assembly has an effective length less than the nominal length. The left and right sides of the seat bottom assembly may be independently varied in length.