Anthropometric Tables
Here's an interesting problem that's troubled me from time to time and a colleague has just asked a variation upon by EMail. I'm also currently dealing with the problem of a 6'4" pilot who wants to redesign his rudder pedals because his buttock - heel length seems to be uncomfortably long for the cockpit in question.
Anthropometric data - or lack of it.
Like most other people in the airworthiness business, I have access to the famous 1950s RAF percentile tables, and can happily quote my dimensions in those terms (5-7% in everything I'll admit to in public sadly).
However, these tables, applying as they do to 1950s RAF pilots are not necessary representative of the current generation of military aircraft - let alone civil aircrew. The advent of the fairer sex on the flight deck, and a wide variety of weights and strengths (full rudder force with a fully extended leg could be a player for example) throws the whole thing.
Does anybody know of any readily available percentile tables which are applicable to modern civilian aircrew. I've looked hard for such data, but other than occasional tables in handbooks on industrial design which have proved somewhat unsatisfactory - have never had much joy.
In a particularly critical environment (single crew air-taxi operations for example) there's also a fair case that some people may be unsuitable for some aircraft types without modification. However, doing this on a pilot-by-pilot basis is somewhat unsatisfactory, and a set of civil percentile tables would make life much more sensible.
I'd also be interested in anybody's experience of this in civil certification - other than some very general guidelines in FAR-25 I can't find any rules laid down anywhere.