Tall man trainer

Frank,

At aero, friedrichshaven this year, i was on the HPH stand and had a couple

of really tall guys who came to the stand. one claimed that he could find
no
single seater which would fit him.... In no time and without too much
difficulty he got comfortable in the hph shark ... much to his amazement.

i took a Shark jet demonstrator to Dunstable and lofty russell flew it,
without
removing the backrest..... so he was not the limit in terms of size. Many
single seaters have really snug cockpits, but the HpH Shark seems to be
able
to accomodate all sizes really well....

Craig
At 19:47 24 September 2013, Frank Whiteley wrote:
Got a call today as a referral from the SSA office. What trainer is
suitab=
le for a 6'6" long torso man? He visited Blue Ridge Soaring Society and
tr=
ied to fit in both a K-21 and an L-23 to no avail. I have no experience
wi=
th a Puchacz or DG-500/1000 series. I expect he could fit in a 2-32, if
on=
e was available. I know one club that is operating two. Perhaps a
K-7/13,=
though it's been a long while since I tried one on, so I don't recall
how
=
generous they are length wise. He seemed open to travelling to a
commercia=
l operator if that was the way to get trained and rated.

Assuming he succeeds, then which single seaters that can handle someone
tha=
t tall. I know tall pilots that fly/flew the ASW-20, Jantar Std 2,
G-102,
=
but none were 6'6". 6'7" 'Lofty' Russell flew a modified Kestrel 19 and
Gl=
asflugel 604. I thought I heard he later had a Ventus. How big is the
Gen=
esis 2? Other, newer ships?

TIA,

Frank Whiteley

I was on the HPH Stand at Friedrichshaven earlier this year and was
presented by a couple of pilots who had been to the other stands and
couldn't find a glider that would fit them. They were VERY tall, but much
to their surprise I was able to fit them into the HPH Shark without any
trouble and without removing the seat back.

A while back, I took a Shark Jet around the UK and pilots of all sizes were
accommodated, including Lofty Russell, who fitted with no problems.

There is a trend for the modern single seaters to have quite tight
cockpits, but the Shark seems to go against that trend and is a good option
for larger pilots... (or smaller ones !)

Craig Lowrie

www.hphUK.co.uk




At 16:26 25 September 2013, Peter Thomas wrote:
Lofty may not be a good example, he can fit in any glider thats not
already in his logbook. He seems to fit in the LS6 he has been flying
for years.


At 05:30 25 September 2013, wrote:

Lofty flew my Genesis 2 at Lasham late summer of 1999. He
told me he fit
very well. He found it comfortable.

Robert Mudd
Moriarty, New mexico

6'7" 'Lofty' Russell flew a modified Kestrel 19 and Glasflugel
604. I
thought I heard he later had a Ventus. How big is the Genesis 2?
Other,
newer ships?



TIA,



Frank Whiteley

On 25/09/2013 22:05, Wolf Aviator wrote:
At 19:47 24 September 2013, Frank Whiteley wrote:
Got a call today as a referral from the SSA office. What trainer is
suitab=
le for a 6'6" long torso man? He visited Blue Ridge Soaring Society and
tr=
ied to fit in both a K-21 and an L-23 to no avail. I have no experience
wi=
th a Puchacz or DG-500/1000 series. I expect he could fit in a 2-32, if
on=
e was available. I know one club that is operating two. Perhaps a
.....
Hi,
Friend of mine is 196cm, 95kg. He fits into one of our club K13, but
doesn't fit to another K13. There is similiar story with other K13s, he
doesn't fit in most of them.

We had a very tall member who fitted one K13 and not the other. One had
a non-standard front instrument panel which had been scalloped on each
side to give nearly 2 inches more height.

We'd noticed the different shapes but not understood the rationale until
then. We copied that panel to the other.

GC

On Tue, 24 Sep 2013 12:47:22 -0700, Frank Whiteley wrote:

Got a call today as a referral from the SSA office. What trainer is
suitable for a 6'6" long torso man? He visited Blue Ridge Soaring
Society and tried to fit in both a K-21 and an L-23 to no avail. I have
no experience with a Puchacz or DG-500/1000 series.

My club had a tall member with a long body. He trained in our Puchacz
with no apparent problems but I don't recall ever seeing him in one of
the ASK-21s.

Post-solo, he did a fair amount of solo flying in the Puchacz and our
Pegase90, which he was able to fly with the seat back removed.

HTH


--
martin@ | Martin Gregorie
gregorie. | Essex, UK
org |

I am 6'6" (and a bit!) tall - meaning I scrape my head going through
standard doorways.
I did all my initial training in a Grob Twin Acro (G103A). With rudder
pedals full forward and all the standard seating in place, this is very
spacious.
Once I was relatively accomplished, I had a few flights in a K21, which was
very tight (In fact I wore my workmens knee-pads to avoid bruising my knees
against the panel!). In my experience, a far better ab-initio trainer
though
I tried a number of K13's and found, I could possibly squeeze into the back
seat of 1 of them and as long as I kept my head tucked in, I was unlikely
to break the canopy on takeoff/landing roll - that was never going to be a
practical solution.
I have since graduated to a DG505, which like the Grob, is perfectly
adequate. Having tried out a Duo, this too may work.
There was a discussion forum (which unfortunately no longer exists) where
amongst others, Jonker realised that pilots are generally getting larger
and thus manufacturers are catering for this (Duo XLT etc.)
A lot of discussion has taken place about the ratio of proportions on leg
vs torso so unfortunately, there is not a one size fits all rule. I
consider myself to be 'normally proportioned'
I did a fair amount of trying out 'legacy' single seaters, but as I enjoy
the social aspects of dual flying, I am happy where I am for now (and will
wait until I can rob my children's inheritance fund to buy a sparkling new
ship deigned for normal-sized people!).
Hope this helps

At 13:45 28 September 2013, Martin Gregorie wrote:
On Tue, 24 Sep 2013 12:47:22 -0700, Frank Whiteley wrote:

Got a call today as a referral from the SSA office. What trainer is
suitable for a 6'6" long torso man? He visited Blue Ridge Soaring
Society and tried to fit in both a K-21 and an L-23 to no avail. I
have
no experience with a Puchacz or DG-500/1000 series.

My club had a tall member with a long body. He trained in our Puchacz
with no apparent problems but I don't recall ever seeing him in one of
the ASK-21s.

Post-solo, he did a fair amount of solo flying in the Puchacz and our
Pegase90, which he was able to fly with the seat back removed.

HTH


--
martin@ | Martin Gregorie
gregorie. | Essex, UK
org |

On Tuesday, September 24, 2013 1:47:22 PM UTC-6, Frank Whiteley wrote:
Got a call today as a referral from the SSA office. What trainer is suitable for a 6'6" long torso man? He visited Blue Ridge Soaring Society and tried to fit in both a K-21 and an L-23 to no avail. I have no experience with a Puchacz or DG-500/1000 series. I expect he could fit in a 2-32, if one was available. I know one club that is operating two. Perhaps a K-7/13, though it's been a long while since I tried one on, so I don't recall how generous they are length wise. He seemed open to travelling to a commercial operator if that was the way to get trained and rated.



Assuming he succeeds, then which single seaters that can handle someone that tall. I know tall pilots that fly/flew the ASW-20, Jantar Std 2, G-102, but none were 6'6". 6'7" 'Lofty' Russell flew a modified Kestrel 19 and Glasflugel 604. I thought I heard he later had a Ventus. How big is the Genesis 2? Other, newer ships?



TIA,



Frank Whiteley

Thank you RAS readers for your insights and comments on your experiences. I've forwarded them to Mark. He's seeking to fly sailplanes and is an avid scuba diver. If you have further comments, please feel free to contribute..

Frank Whiteley

Don't go directly from SCUBA to flying but, of course, he already knows
that!


"Frank Whiteley" wrote in message
...
On Tuesday, September 24, 2013 1:47:22 PM UTC-6, Frank Whiteley wrote:
Got a call today as a referral from the SSA office. What trainer is
suitable for a 6'6" long torso man? He visited Blue Ridge Soaring Society
and tried to fit in both a K-21 and an L-23 to no avail. I have no
experience with a Puchacz or DG-500/1000 series. I expect he could fit in
a 2-32, if one was available. I know one club that is operating two.
Perhaps a K-7/13, though it's been a long while since I tried one on, so I
don't recall how generous they are length wise. He seemed open to
travelling to a commercial operator if that was the way to get trained and
rated.



Assuming he succeeds, then which single seaters that can handle someone
that tall. I know tall pilots that fly/flew the ASW-20, Jantar Std 2,
G-102, but none were 6'6". 6'7" 'Lofty' Russell flew a modified Kestrel
19 and Glasflugel 604. I thought I heard he later had a Ventus. How big
is the Genesis 2? Other, newer ships?



TIA,



Frank Whiteley

Thank you RAS readers for your insights and comments on your experiences.
I've forwarded them to Mark. He's seeking to fly sailplanes and is an avid
scuba diver. If you have further comments, please feel free to contribute.

Frank Whiteley