On Friday, January 10, 2020 at 2:35:48 PM UTC-5, Bob Kuykendall wrote:


I studied anthropometry in my Human Factors courses, and I've had the opportunity to observe how a wide variety of people fit into sailplanes. It is kind of amazing how much variability there is in the relative sizes of arms, legs, and torsos, and how much difference it makes in cockpit fit.

...

Yup. I'm thin, and only 5'10" or so, but have long legs relative to torso. I need a large frame bicycle, but then the handlebars are too far forward.. I bought a "Russia" glider, the first model (AC4a), one of the early specimens (before they lengthened the cockpit), and was surprised that my legs wouldn't fit. Moving the seat-back back to the bulkhead, and adding a bunch of padding under thighs, I've managed to get it to work for me while wearing a parachute (many 5+ hour flights). That cockpit is wider than I need, though. It's nice to have room for all the junk I carry with me, but performance suffers a bit. (It still has plenty of XC capability, and so would the L33 and PW5.)