larger pilot

On Monday, February 10, 2020 at 1:45:24 AM UTC-6, wrote:
Hi, I'm 6'6" and 240 pounds and new to soaring. I've been looking at the possibilities open to me after I finish training and all single seaters have a cockpit rated to 110 kg, i.e. a 10 kilo allowance for a chute and a pilot around 100 kilo's max. As I am well over the limit with a chute is there any way out of this other than to start dieting? Regards Mark

Hi Mark,

You should be able to shed 20 lbs rather easily through Keto or some other low carb diet and keep it off if you're active and with intermittent fasting. I'm 6'7" and went from over 280 lbs down to 225 doing just that.

As for which gliders you'll fit in, I've also been doing my own research as I just finished my rating and looking to purchase my own glider. Here's what I found so far. I fit in the following gliders:

DG-300, 505 (very comfortable)
LS-3 and LS-4 (very comfortable)
Standard Jantar 2 (lots of legroom)
Standard Cirrus (adjusting the headrest, good room)
ASW-27 (need to adjust the panel for legroom - knees)
Mosquito (just barely)
Arcus M and T (two-ship, very comfortable, but $$$$$$)
L-33 Solo (very comfortable)
PW-5 (very comfortable as well with lots of headroom)


I'll be trying on a Kestrel, Open Cirrus, Nimbus and a Libelle.

Strangely, I did not fit in:

Grob 102 (legroom was fine, headroom - not even close)
PIK-20 (legroom was fine, headroom - not even close)
Russia (just no, but I understand some versions might work)

All in all, as tall guys, our choices get limited but doable.

Good luck!