I’m a tall pilot – slightly over 1m90 – and it’s not always easy. Cockpit designers do their best, but some planes can’t simply be flown by pilots over 1m80. The Liberty XL2 is not a good memory in this respect, so I won’t even mention it.

My head did hit plane ceilings on a couple of occasions because of turbulence, and that’s no good. In most planes I have to set the seat in full backwards position, and sometimes this is not really enough. Bringing a Piper yoke to full deflection is not possible if I carry a too large kneeboard.

Here are a couple of photos taken in various planes, showing the distance left between my head and the ceiling. At first, the PA28 Archer II. The space is not that large, but the leg room is fine.

Its bigger sister PA32-Saratoga offers a bit more space for head, but this is at a price of a very low visibility over the dashboard. Not that much of an issue when flying IFR, except when it comes to flare. Because of the club seating – passengers in row 1 are flying backwards – the pilot’s seat can’t be taken backwards enough, and any kneeboard can possibly prevent to take the yoke to full deflection. On the plus side, the club seating makes possible to slip an A4 sized kneeboard between co-pilot and passenger seats.

One of the best aircraft I flew regarding overhead space it the Bonanza. There’s not plenty of horizontal space, but the cockipt it rather high, vertically speaking. Another good thing for cockpit organisation is the presence of a pocket below the pilot’s seat, very practical for checklits.

What about the plastic plane then ? The DA40 cockpit is slightly different, as the seat can’t be adjusted, and the stick is fixed into the seat. To fit (almost) all pilots, the rudder pedals can be adjusted to various depths. Once the canopy is closed, it gets quite close to my head, so I get deep in the seat when the ride gets turbulent.

I did not found a suitable picture from a C172, but regarding cockpit access and vertical space, it’s a pleasure to fly it. I don’t push the seat to the fully backwards position when flying the C172, because of the special position for boarding…

If you have personal feed-back on cockipt space, let me know in comment… particularly if you’re in the opposite situation, and fly with cushions

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Because of the horrible bug, no comments are allowed on this post. Here is one that Sylvia from www.fearoflanding.com sent me per e-mail:

I have the opposite problem – I’m just under 1m53. Funnily enough, I like the Saratoga too as it allows me to go further forward than most planes. It’s probably the only plane that I edge back a little bit to get the right fit. The C172 is a pain, I need a cushion behind my back to be able to comfortably reach the pedals. Really I’d like a pillow underneath as well to lift me up a bit but I end up too embarrassed.

I’ve not flown many other planes. I used a very small cushion in the Tobago – I think I have pretty much used cushions on every plane except the Saratoga.

We carry a step-ladder around with us too as I can’t check the oil without it!

* Sylvia *