The shortest pilot you've ever met

M

MarNas

Well-Known Member
How tall is the shortest pilot you've ever met? And what was he/she flying?

I'm 5'2'' (157cm) and I do hope it won't be a problem during flight training and career.

Can this become an issue when flying aircraft with conventional yoke like the Boeing, Bombardier, etc. when full rudder/yoke are required? Can the yoke ""impact" with my... ehm.... thigh/groin?
 
One of our pilots is 5'4"ish (just a wild guess...I'm 6'2, so everyone seems short to me). He flies a Challenger for us, and previously a G-IV for his old company. The Challenger seats move far enough forward that you almost can't get your leg between the seat and the panel. The pedals are adjustable as well. For some reason, however, he only likes to use the front half of the seat.
 
They let women fly planes now, so I guess that's probably nothing to worry about, unless you're trying to fly fighters.
 
MarNas said:
How tall is the shortest pilot you've ever met? And what was he/she flying?

I'm 5'2'' (157cm) and I do hope it won't be a problem during flight training and career.

Can this become an issue when flying aircraft with conventional yoke like the Boeing, Bombardier, etc. when full rudder/yoke are required? Can the yoke ""impact" with my... ehm.... thigh/groin?
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Should not be a problem. We had a Captain (male) that was like 5'3". Plenty of women flying commercial that are not "tall" and if you look at some Asian pilots (not stereotyping here) some of them are quite "short". The seats and rudder peddles are adjustable to a wide variety of heights. Hell, you'll probably be more comfy up front than a really tall guy in many types of aircraft. As long as you can reach all the controls on the front and overhead panels, see over the glare shield and be able to make full rudder deflections, you'll be fine. It's far more important to be competent, skilled, fit, in shape and confident.

Great men and women come in all sorts of packages.

Don't crash the plane and you won't have to worry about the yoke impacting anything. lol Best of luck.
 
Two of my good friends from indoc at my airline are a 6'7" guy and a 4'11" girl. They both fly the CRJ series with no problems... Seats move forward and back about 1.5 feet, rudder pedals move about 8 inches, and seat changes height by another foot or so
 
MarNas said:
How tall is the shortest pilot you've ever met? And what was he/she flying?

I'm 5'2'' (157cm) and I do hope it won't be a problem during flight training and career.

Can this become an issue when flying aircraft with conventional yoke like the Boeing, Bombardier, etc. when full rudder/yoke are required? Can the yoke ""impact" with my... ehm.... thigh/groin?
Click to expand...


LOLSSSS!!!!!!!
 
I can fly the Twin Star, Piper twins and the Duke without a booster seat, but the C172 gave me problems. I'm 5'6'', I could reach the controls in a 172, but barely saw over the glare-shield. I used a booster seat and a back pad to see over the glare-shield.
 
The bigger the airplane, the more seat adjustment you typically have. I trained a gal who was about 5' and 100 lbs soaking wet, she had to use a seat cushion in the 172. On the other end of the spectrum the chieftain can be cozy for a 6' + guy, and when I fly the Cherokee 6 with pax behind me I have to have the seat uncomfortably far forward.
 
DragonStar45 said:
I can fly the Twin Star, Piper twins and the Duke without a booster seat, but the C172 gave me problems. I'm 5'6'', I could reach the controls in a 172, but barely saw over the glare-shield. I used a booster seat and a back pad to see over the glare-shield.
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I've got a friend who is probably 5'0" (maybe 5'1") that had trouble doing single engine work in the DA42. She just couldn't go full deflection rudder and still be in a position to do much else with the plane.
 
One of my college roommates who is a pilot I think is 4'11". He has never had an issue. Actually probably helps him out a lot since he's in Citations and KingAirs (and gliders and tailwheels on the days off).

My new hire sim partner where I work now was also around 5'0". We'd always laugh with the instructor in the sim when we'd switch seats at the halfway point of a lesson, because the first thing that would happen after we got back in the sim after break was the sound of each side's rudder pedals running fully to the opposite end of their track.
 
Where I've seen a limit on that is in the military. The Navy had it down to a science. They didn't just use height, they used other height related measurements (arm reach, leg length, seated height, etc.) That was about 30 years ago and I doubt they got any less detailed since then.
 
Houston said:
Where I've seen a limit on that is in the military. The Navy had it down to a science. They didn't just use height, they used other height related measurements (arm reach, leg length, seated height, etc.) That was about 30 years ago and I doubt they got any less detailed since then.
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Not only that, but I remember reading back when the Navy flew the A-4 Skyhawk, the cockpit was so tight they had a MAXIMUM height requirement, and a guy like me (6'2") probably would have been DQ'ed!!!
 
I have enjoyed that none of our short pilots have chimed in.
It is all "I know a guy", " A friend who...".
 
Douglas said:
I have enjoyed that none of our short pilots have chimed in.
It is all "I know a guy", " A friend who...".
Click to expand...

Well, *I* am 5'2" and I did use a Nelson seat in the Warrior & Archer when I did my primary training. http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/pspages/childCushion.php I could fly fine without it, but I felt I could just see better with it.

In the 310 I can reach & see just fine, not needed there. And every airliner cockpit seat I've sat in has had seat adjustments that more than compensate for my height.
 
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