Originally Posted by Gordon Field
...My complaint is that annunciators are now being hidden under the glareshield and cannot be seen by the average pilot sitting in the average position.
Hi Gordon:
There is a reasonably easy fix for that. What I did was to install an eye height reference device (three balls) on the windshield centre post. Hella, out of Lippstadt, Germany, make a very nice one that is illuminated and only costs about $300. The horizontal angle is fixed, but the geometry would probably work for just about any aircraft with a 'typical' size flight compartment.
The aircraft I am responsible for is a 40 year old, 19 seat turboprop. It's a Part 23 aircraft, and therefore is not required to have an eye height reference device, but I thought that it was necessary to put one in to avoid exactly the problem you have mentioned. Once you define the pilot(s) eyepoint, most of the discussion and argument about where to put everything else stops... either the pilot can see it, or they can't, and if it is the latter, then the position has to be changed.
I also had to move a few tertiary controls (heating system controls, etc.) around in order to allow them to be reached by a pilot who was seated IAW the eye reference device and was wearing both a seat belt and a shoulder harness. Again, if you have the eye point reference device in the design to start with, it's pretty easy to convince others when things need to be moved.
Send me a private message if you would like to discuss this further.