Designed especially for the old style (pre-2022) Aeronaut 30 and Aeronaut 45 convertible travel bags, the Aeronaut Padded Hip Belt allows you to carry some of the weight of a loaded Aeronaut on your hips rather than on just your shoulders. 

Note that the Aeronaut Padded Hip Belt will perform best for folks between 5'2" - 6'0"—depending, of course, on the length of the person's torso. If you're on the shorter end of that range and have a short torso, the Padded Hip Belt may hit you a little lower than you'd like. If you're on the taller end of that range with a longer torso, the Padded Hip Belt may ride a little higher than you'd like. 

Most folks will pair the Aeronaut Padded Hip Belt with the Aeronaut Internal Frame, but some may use just the Padded Hip Belt. For more about all of that, see our Aeronaut FAQ blog post.

Back in about 2007, we added a webbing loop on the lower half of the Aeronaut's backpack straps, creating an option for adding a simple 1" Gatekeeper Waist Strap. However, this 1" waist strap rode pretty high up on most folks, and was an option less about offsetting weight and more about securing the bag to one's body, for those rare instances when one must run across an airport terminal to make a connecting flight, or perhaps ride a bike while carrying an Aeronaut.

When Tom and Nik began developing the Aeronaut Padded Hip Belt, that original waist strap attachment point on the bag itself proved to be a problem. If only it could somehow be placed lower on the bag!

Sure, Tom and Nik could've come up with a design update to the Aeronaut itself to solve this conundrum, but that would leave people who had already purchased an Aeronaut unable to add the functionality of the Padded Hip Belt to the bags that they already own, and that didn't seem right. Instead, they engineered a solution that would work for everyone. 

Here's how it works: 

The Aeronaut Padded Hip Belt clips directly and securely to the buckle that usually clips to the Aeronaut backpack straps. This allows the Aeronaut Padded Hip Belt to secure in its lowest possible placement. And to make the whole affair as seamless and elegant as possible, Tom and Nik added an extra section of Padded Hip Belt that disappears into the area of the buckle sewn on to the bag, giving one the experience that perhaps the Padded Hip Belt was integrated with the pack all along. You may be wondering: well, what do the Aeronaut backpack straps clip to then? They clip into a buckle that's on the Aeronaut Padded Hip Belt itself. Clever, eh? And also a little hard to describe with words: see this blog post for step-by-step instructions and photos that explain how to install the Aeronaut Padded Hip Belt onto your Aeronaut. 

Made of .375″ / 10mm EVA closed cell foam with a protective laminated cover of heavy duty polyester knit, the set of two pads joins front and center with a sturdy, dual adjust side release buckle. The pads are contoured and, when attached to your Aeronaut, form a slight conical shape, encouraging the belt to ride more or less on top of your hip bones.

The Aeronaut Padded Hip Belt is available in one size that adjusts to fit hips measuring between 33″ / 84cm and 50″ / 125cm. Want a different size? We’d be glad to see what we can come up with in the factory: emailus@tombihn.com