"Morgans" wrote in message
...

"Jim Logajan" wrote

Does anyone else feel this way, or am I on my own with this pet peeve?

You aren't alone.

For a while, I thought I was crazy, for the comments coming in. I'm glad
to see someone else agree. I'm not that big of a guy either, at 5'11",
and right at an "official" FAA person's weight of 175! I was a bit more
than official, but got down to fit in the FAA idea of ideal. g
--
Jim in NC

You are not alone at all, and I would not be at all surprised to find that
the miserable amount of space in most light aircraft might be a large part
of the pilot recruitment problem. Most of the RV series are 43" cabin
width, about the same as a Piper Tomahawk, which is tolerable; but needs
improvement.

While I'm on a rant about the lousy accomodations, I am 6'1" and only
slightly above that 175 pound target weight (but I'm working on it g);
which brings me to a couple of additional complaints. Most of the high wing
light airplanes have poor visibility, especially for most people taller than
about 5'9" and actually seem to be getting worse. In addition, egress is
awkward from many of the newer low wing designs--especially when you
consider that most "customers" are at least middle aged when they are ready
to buy. I watched the sales chick demonstrating how to exit one of them (I
think it was the Europa derivative--possibly a Liberty at the LSA Expo) and
I have to laugh about what a wife or girl friend might have to say. It
seems that the perferred method was to slide your fanny sideways and back
out onto the wing walk, rock back and pull your feet out, swivel on your
fanny (the sales chick was not wearing white), and then slide off the
leading edge of the wing. No wonder that I looked awkward, even though I
work out, when I tried to exit in the same way that I used to exit a
Tomahawk!

Clearly, much improvement is deperately needed.

Peter