Glider cockpit size

Hi, New to this forum, thought I 'd pose a question..... I have a glider
rating
from years ago, I was wondering if anyone can suggest a list of gliders
that
are more "roomy" inside since I am 6'4" . I am planning on going to the
SSA
convention in Reno in 2018 to check out the new stuff....I've sat in an SZD

55, that's about it.... Thanks

At 03:26 25 November 2017, Steve Muhli wrote:
Hi, New to this forum, thought I 'd pose a question..... I have a
glide
rating
from years ago, I was wondering if anyone can suggest a list of
glider
that
are more "roomy" inside since I am 6'4" . I am planning on going
to th
SSA
convention in Reno in 2018 to check out the new stuff....I've sat in
an SZ

55, that's about it.... Thanks


Discus-2b and Ventus-2b should be comfortable up to ~6'5" with
a normal chute. Genesis is also roomy, but not many around or for
sale. A lot depends on your wallet, experience level, and what you
are trying to accomplish. Most of the older gliders were not built
with a 6'4" pilot in mind. The Discus-2b and Ventus-2b fuselages
were the first where Schempp-Hirth said that they wanted to design
a cockpit which almost anyone could get into comfortably. Other
manufacturers have gradually over time enlarged the insides of
their cockpits in order for taller people to fit as well.

Most glider seat belt attachment fittings are the limiting factors
for weight in the seat. For most, the max weight is 242 Lbs or
110 Kg.

You will probably get a bunch of other suggestions from this forum.

Good luck...

RO

Try an HPH Shark... It probably has the most roomy cockpit out there...
6'4" will fit ok... Craig

At 04:03 25 November 2017, Michael Opitz wrote:
At 03:26 25 November 2017, Steve Muhli wrote:
Hi, New to this forum, thought I 'd pose a question..... I have a
glide
rating
from years ago, I was wondering if anyone can suggest a list of
glider
that
are more "roomy" inside since I am 6'4" . I am planning on going
to th
SSA
convention in Reno in 2018 to check out the new stuff....I've sat in
an SZ

55, that's about it.... Thanks


Discus-2b and Ventus-2b should be comfortable up to ~6'5" with
a normal chute. Genesis is also roomy, but not many around or for
sale. A lot depends on your wallet, experience level, and what you
are trying to accomplish. Most of the older gliders were not built
with a 6'4" pilot in mind. The Discus-2b and Ventus-2b fuselages
were the first where Schempp-Hirth said that they wanted to design
a cockpit which almost anyone could get into comfortably. Other
manufacturers have gradually over time enlarged the insides of
their cockpits in order for taller people to fit as well.

Most glider seat belt attachment fittings are the limiting factors
for weight in the seat. For most, the max weight is 242 Lbs or
110 Kg.

You will probably get a bunch of other suggestions from this forum.

Good luck...

RO

On Saturday, November 25, 2017 at 7:15:06 AM UTC+3, Michael Opitz wrote:
At 03:26 25 November 2017, Steve Muhli wrote:
Hi, New to this forum, thought I 'd pose a question..... I have a
glide
rating
from years ago, I was wondering if anyone can suggest a list of
glider
that
are more "roomy" inside since I am 6'4" . I am planning on going
to th
SSA
convention in Reno in 2018 to check out the new stuff....I've sat in
an SZ

55, that's about it.... Thanks


Discus-2b and Ventus-2b should be comfortable up to ~6'5" with
a normal chute. Genesis is also roomy, but not many around or for
sale. A lot depends on your wallet, experience level, and what you
are trying to accomplish. Most of the older gliders were not built
with a 6'4" pilot in mind. The Discus-2b and Ventus-2b fuselages
were the first where Schempp-Hirth said that they wanted to design
a cockpit which almost anyone could get into comfortably. Other
manufacturers have gradually over time enlarged the insides of
their cockpits in order for taller people to fit as well.

Most glider seat belt attachment fittings are the limiting factors
for weight in the seat. For most, the max weight is 242 Lbs or
110 Kg.

To be specific, the seal belt attachments are designed and certified to not fail in a 40 G deceleration with a 110 kg person.

If you weigh 120 kg (265 lb) then try to keep your crashes down to 36.7 G.

No one ever mentions: the back seats of two seat gliders are often very roomy, at least side to side and maybe for torso length. They are not necessarily so great for legroom.

Most glider seat belt attachment fittings are the limiting factors
for weight in the seat. For most, the max weight is 242 Lbs or
110 Kg.

To be specific, the seal belt attachments are designed and certified to
not
fail in a 40 G deceleration with a 110 kg person.

If you weigh 120 kg (265 lb) then try to keep your crashes down to
36.7 G.

In the USA, insurance gets to be a problem in that area. If one
intentionally flies the aircraft over a certain placard/handbook limit,
and has an accident, then this becomes a way for the insurance
company to deny payments.

RO

On Saturday, November 25, 2017 at 4:30:11 PM UTC+3, Michael Opitz wrote:
Most glider seat belt attachment fittings are the limiting factors
for weight in the seat. For most, the max weight is 242 Lbs or
110 Kg.

To be specific, the seal belt attachments are designed and certified to
not
fail in a 40 G deceleration with a 110 kg person.

If you weigh 120 kg (265 lb) then try to keep your crashes down to
36.7 G.

In the USA, insurance gets to be a problem in that area. If one
intentionally flies the aircraft over a certain placard/handbook limit,
and has an accident, then this becomes a way for the insurance
company to deny payments.

Legally, only if it's the cause of the accident.

At 13:42 25 November 2017, Bruce Hoult wrote:
On Saturday, November 25, 2017 at 4:30:11 PM UTC+3, Michael Opitz wrote:
Most glider seat belt attachment fittings are the limiting factors
for weight in the seat. For most, the max weight is 242 Lbs or
110 Kg.

To be specific, the seal belt attachments are designed and certified to

not
fail in a 40 G deceleration with a 110 kg person.

If you weigh 120 kg (265 lb) then try to keep your crashes down to
36.7 G.

In the USA, insurance gets to be a problem in that area. If one
intentionally flies the aircraft over a certain placard/handbook limit,
and has an accident, then this becomes a way for the insurance
company to deny payments.

Legally, only if it's the cause of the accident.


A bit surprised that no-one has mentioned CG Limits or AUW.

Delibrately going outside either of these limits could (in UK/European Law
anyway) be 'endangering an aircraft', for which you could be prosecuted,
regardless of any accident.

Lots of Wriggle-Room for an insurer here.

I think that this subject has come up a few times on RAS so it may pay to search the archives. Here is one https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/rec.aviation.soaring/tall$20pilot%7Csort:date/rec.aviation.soaring/ZD-7HqoBYTQ/l0SLOYEACAAJ.

The one glider family that I know fits taller pilots is the DG line. Several DG's are for sale right now on the http://glidersource.com web site. Also, I have a tall pilot friend that fits comfortably in his Schleicher ASW-24 with the seat back removed, which I assume means that other ASW, ASH, etc, gliders would fit the bill.

Best of luck. Get back in the air!

John OHM Ω

Also, I have a tall pilot friend that fits comfortably in his Schleicher
ASW-24 with the seat back removed, which I assume means that
other ASW, ASH,
etc, gliders would fit the bill.

I am 6'2" and had one of the first (SN #8?) ASW-24's. I was so
crammed in (with the seat back removed) that I was afraid to make
an off-field landing in fear of putting my head through the canopy.
I complained to Gerhard Waibel about this, so he told me that in the
newer ones he had moved the cockpit bulkhead back about 4 cm, and
this would fix the problem. He told me that my old -24 could not be
modified, so I should just buy a new one - which I did. (That was
around ~1990) The new one was somewhat better, but I was still
uncomfortable even with the seat back removed. I understand that
Chip Bearden got a much later model which had the cockpit modified
once again, so that he can fit comfortably. Bottom line = Don't
assume all ASW-24 cockpits are the same size. They aren't. I have
heard that later ASW-ASG models have been improved in this regard.
Again, the newer ships will probably fit you better.

Try it on before you buy it.....

RO

On Saturday, November 25, 2017 at 8:00:07 AM UTC-8, Michael Opitz wrote:
Also, I have a tall pilot friend that fits comfortably in his Schleicher
ASW-24 with the seat back removed, which I assume means that
other ASW, ASH,
etc, gliders would fit the bill.

I am 6'2" and had one of the first (SN #8?) ASW-24's. I was so
crammed in (with the seat back removed) that I was afraid to make
an off-field landing in fear of putting my head through the canopy.
I complained to Gerhard Waibel about this, so he told me that in the
newer ones he had moved the cockpit bulkhead back about 4 cm, and
this would fix the problem. He told me that my old -24 could not be
modified, so I should just buy a new one - which I did. (That was
around ~1990) The new one was somewhat better, but I was still
uncomfortable even with the seat back removed. I understand that
Chip Bearden got a much later model which had the cockpit modified
once again, so that he can fit comfortably. Bottom line = Don't
assume all ASW-24 cockpits are the same size. They aren't. I have
heard that later ASW-ASG models have been improved in this regard.
Again, the newer ships will probably fit you better.

Try it on before you buy it.....

RO

I am 6'4" and don't fit in an ASW27. But I fit fine in an ASH26, which has a cockpit about 4" longer. I also fit in an JS1, since the fuselage is an exact copy of the ASH26. An ASH31 shares the fuselage with the 26, so I fit in that as well. I have yet to sit in a Ventus that I could fit comfortably in but there are many variants and I haven't sat in all of them. I have yet to sit in a two seat that really had enough legroom front or rear (Grob 103, ASK21, DuoDiscus, ASW32 among them).