PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Cadets to get new Aircraft?
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Old 25th Jun 2022, 21:19
  #19 (permalink)  
VX275
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Old Hampshire
Age: 68
Posts: 631
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Will crew helmets be a requirement? if so all those aircraft suggested will need modifying unless you only want severely restrict who is to fly in them. Of course restricting the size of the crew helps keeping the aircraft within the regulated weight limits, but military AEA adds weight not taken into account by civilian aircraft designers so your crew will have to be even smaller/lighter, especially if you are installing lots of (heavy) battery power.
I have the misfortune to be tall sat down (98 %tile buttock to crown) and as such found myself being used as an anthropometric dummy during my time at the A&AEE (Islander, Harrier, Tornado, Jaguar, Robin 2160, Grob 109, Grob115, Slingsby Firefly). Whilst I can just fit in some of the light aircraft types without a helmet, there are many I can't. In those I did fit without a helmet any clearance between canopy/structure and helmet was reduced to nil or less than the 50mm clearance required when the Mk4 helmet went on. Whilst modifiying existing civil aircraft types to accommodate military AEA requirements is possible it does of course have consequences, remember the Firefly. So will the crew of these new aircraft be required to wear helmets or is the future of flying only for short arses?
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