OK. How fat can I be?

The soaring bug is in me. But unfortunately so is that chicken-fried steak, mashed potatoes, fried okra, turnip greens and apple pie I had for dinner.

I'm a fairly big guy; six foot, one inch tall, broad shoulders. Let's put it this way... I can't drive a Miata. Assuming I crack the scales at the beginning of next years' season at say, 240, am I going to be able to find a plane that can handle both me and an instructor? Am I going to be able to find a ship of my own later? That I can afford (read: cheap)?

Be honest. I can sniff take it.

Curt

You can be so fat that you have to be lifted out of your room with a
Sikorsky Skycrane just to go to the crapper. You will just need a C-47 for a
glider. If you want to fit into any of the other ones, you might consider
burning a little more than you consume for a while. A half hour walk a day
until the vernal equinox should just about do it.

Or, as an alternative, I would suggest, as an appetite suppressant, taking
up smoking profusely.

I have flown for 35 years, weigh 245 (plus clothing and chute). 6'3"
and wear a 48 long, (lifted weights for 45 years). I have owned 1-34,
1-35, Pegasus and now a Nimbus 3. Of course I have to sit on the
cockpit floor, with no seat pan. There are a few of us who fly
gliders that are also plus sizes.

Gary


"Eggs" wrote in message . net...
The soaring bug is in me. But unfortunately so is that chicken-fried
steak, mashed potatoes, fried okra, turnip greens and apple pie I had
for dinner.

I'm a fairly big guy; six foot, one inch tall, broad shoulders. Let's
put it this way... I can't drive a Miata. Assuming I crack the scales at
the beginning of next years' season at say, 240, am I going to be able
to find a plane that can handle both me and an instructor? Am I going to
be able to find a ship of my own later? That I can afford (read: cheap)?

Be honest. I can sniff take it.

Curt


--

I am similar size to you and I find the Grob 102 /103 twin 2 seater fit me easily ,for more advanced gliders
S H gliders seem best ,ventus b /c ,nimbus 2 and 3 never seen a 4 model ,Lak 12 will not need any lead
bolted into the tail to balance the glider's c of g.You have a lot of choices and if you buy into one of your
own you can reweigh the glider and have the cg range adjusted with lead.
Another trick is to have a parachute that is in a pack in the locker space behind your head and wear a
harness with static lines to the pack.


"Eggs" wrote in message et...
The soaring bug is in me. But unfortunately so is that chicken-fried steak, mashed potatoes, fried okra, turnip greens and apple pie I had for dinner.

I'm a fairly big guy; six foot, one inch tall, broad shoulders. Let's put it this way... I can't drive a Miata. Assuming I crack the scales at the beginning of next years' season at say, 240, am I going to be able to find a plane that can handle both me and an instructor? Am I going to be able to find a ship of my own later? That I can afford (read: cheap)?

Be honest. I can sniff take it.

Curt

Try buying a Slingsby Capstan. Two seats, side-by-side and an huge max
cockpit weight. (Slingsby only specified a Max cockpit weight and
omitted to stipulate a max seat weight. The cockpit is large enough to
accommodate a small cocktail cabinet for those (rare) occasions when you
land out. It handles very well with absolutely no vices. The only
problem is that the glide angle reflects its wood-wire-and-fabric
construction. It is still my favourite two seater.
Steve

-----Original Message-----
From: Glider Pilot Network ]
Sent: Thursday, September 25, 2003 1:50 AM
To: Steve H
Subject: [r.a.s] OK. How fat can I be?


------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroup: rec.aviation.soaring
Subject: OK. How fat can I be?
Author: Eggs @
Date/Time: 00:40 25 September 2003
------------------------------------------------------------
The soaring bug is in me. But unfortunately so is that chicken-fried
steak, mashed potatoes, fried okra, turnip greens and apple pie I had
for dinner.

I'm a fairly big guy; six foot, one inch tall, broad shoulders. Let's
put it this way... I can't drive a Miata. Assuming I crack the scales at

the beginning of next years' season at say, 240, am I going to be able

to find a plane that can handle both me and an instructor? Am I going to

be able to find a ship of my own later? That I can afford (read: cheap)?

Be honest. I can take it.

Curt


------------------------------------------------------------

"Eggs" wrote in message news:fUqcb.4705

Am I going to be able to find a ship of my
own later? That I can afford (read: cheap)?

I'm working on it. Please be patient.

Bob K.
http://www.hpaircraft.com/hp-24

You make it into any JAR certified single place glider with 2 lbs to spare!
Your problem will be finding an instructor light enough to fly with you. Most two place trainers I've seen in the US have a useful load in the low 400 lb range. Talk to the local clubs & commercial operations to see if their ships & instructors create combinations that will work with your weight.
"Eggs" wrote in message et...
The soaring bug is in me. But unfortunately so is that chicken-fried steak, mashed potatoes, fried okra, turnip greens and apple pie I had for dinner.

I'm a fairly big guy; six foot, one inch tall, broad shoulders. Let's put it this way... I can't drive a Miata. Assuming I crack the scales at the beginning of next years' season at say, 240, am I going to be able to find a plane that can handle both me and an instructor? Am I going to be able to find a ship of my own later? That I can afford (read: cheap)?

Be honest. I can sniff take it.

Curt

I understand that the maximum cockpit weight is the lowest figure set by the
following four limitations:

Max. all up weight for the whole glider.
Max. weight for the non-lifting parts.
Max. weight by moments (forward C. of G. limit).
Max. weight per the handbook (weight the seat, seatbelts etc. is stressed
for).

The placard should show the lowest of the above weights as the maximum.

It is quite normal for a tandem two-seater flown solo (e.g. K21) to have a
maximum weight over 300 lbs. for the front seat on the first three criteria,
it is the seat stressing case which limits it to 110kg. (242lbs.).

W.J. (Bill) Dean (U.K.).
Remove "ic" to reply.

"Eggs" wrote in message
et...

The soaring bug is in me. But unfortunately so is that chicken-fried steak,
mashed potatoes, fried okra, turnip greens and apple pie I had for dinner.

I'm a fairly big guy; six foot, one inch tall, broad shoulders. Let's put it
this way... I can't drive a Miata. Assuming I crack the scales at the
beginning of next years' season at say, 240, am I going to be able to find a
plane that can handle both me and an instructor? Am I going to be able to
find a ship of my own later? That I can afford (read: cheap)?

Be honest. I can sniff take it.

Curt

"Eggs" wrote in message . net...
The soaring bug is in me. But unfortunately so is that chicken-fried
steak, mashed potatoes, fried okra, turnip greens and apple pie I had
for dinner.

I'm a fairly big guy; six foot, one inch tall, broad shoulders. Let's
put it this way... I can't drive a Miata. Assuming I crack the scales at
the beginning of next years' season at say, 240, am I going to be able
to find a plane that can handle both me and an instructor? Am I going to
be able to find a ship of my own later? That I can afford (read: cheap)?

Be honest. I can sniff take it.

Curt
************************************************** ********************************
You would easily fit in a Genesis 2. Following was lifted from the
GenesisFlyers Yahoo site. It was posted sometime in 2000.

Hello Genesis lovers...

Dave wrote...

"First of all, a pilot's "sitting height" will
limit his fit at one of two spots: the stick or
the canopy...".

Let me begin my reply with a Big Thanks for all the
helpful comments from list members (I am the fellow
who "doesn't fit" and therefore started this thread).

Allow me to elaborate on my position (literally!)...

All humans (99.999%) are born with a certain number of vertebra,
either "X" (I forget the exact number) or "X+1". Those
with "X+1" are called "long waisted". Your vertebra
size will be proportionate to your frame size (i.e.
taller people will have larger vertebra).

I am an "X+1" guy who is 6'5" tall. Therefore, the
very tall "sitting height" (a term which almost-
solely decides what ejection-seat jets you are
allowed to fly in the military) is reflective of a
"X-vertebra" person 6'7" to 6'8" tall.

In a Genesis, I have absolutely NO PROBLEM fitting
in the cockpit from a stick/pedal standpoint. Head
room is the only issue.

In fact (shameless plug) I was a Designer,
Cockpit Displays and Operational Logic Subsystem
for the B-() bomber, and can say as a professional
crewstation designer that the G2 is not just "a
good glider cockpit", but a marvel of efficiency and
in fact a superb design. If anybody does not
"like" something about the G2 cockpit, it is because
of a personal preference lying outside the realm of
"optimized effectiveness" (and yes, improvements
could undoubtedly be made but they would be trivial).

All of the "fit" suggestions made by list-members were
tried by me at Lift 2000. No-go. But hey! I'm a giant
and "fitting everybody" would make for a sport-glider,
not a hi-performance machine. A G2 sized as an LS-8 (i.e.
"cockpits for midgets" and no offense intended to the
vertically-challenged) would likely stomp the
competition back into the stone age.

The maximum cockpit weight question came up recently in regard to Dean Carswell's and my Flight Test of a DG-1000S recently, and after researching it we posted the folling reply:

"JAR-22 requires a minimum max cockpit design loading of 180 kg for
a two-place sailplane, but the designer can
indeed design and certify to a higher maximum, if he
so desires. The manual for the DG-1000 that we flight
tested last spring stated that the total, both seats
loading should not exceed 210 kg.

Since I flew the test flights with John Earlywine,
we were close to, but did not exceed the 210 kg limit.
Between the two of us with parachutes, we totaled
about 205 kg."
Dick JOhnson