On Mon, 18 Sep 2006 07:33:17 +0200, Mxsmanic
wrote:

Marty Shapiro writes:

No more so than the hood of a car extends beyond the front window. You
can't see the ground immediately in front of you, but you can see the
ground in front of you.

How much of the runway can you see from the cockpit?

The instrument panel is only imposing when you are not a pilot.

Pilots must be extremely tall, then.

I've found that this is one of the things most of the sims get wrong.
To get the panel in they end up raising it higher than it would be
IRL. With the little Cessnas I find it to be raised considerably.

The Baron OTOH is pretty close to reality.


After a while, it is no more imposing than the "instrument
panel" in your car. Even when you are on an IFR flight, if the weather
conditions are VMC, you've got to look out of the window. You also have to
be able to see in front of you to taxi to the runway.

Just look to the side and follow the yellow line.

At the viewing angles I see for small craft (particular those that
don't sit level on the ground), it should be practically impossible to
see much of the runway.

As I mentioned in another post, when I land the Deb with no flaps
there is absolutely no forward visibility except up.

Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com