Smyth Sidewinder - cabin size
Hi all,
this is my first post on this forum and so I just introduce myself a little. My
name is Heinz and I am from a place called Muenster in Germany (Europe, the
other side of the pond).
I am flying since I am 13 years old (started with gliders and now at the age of
45 I have logged some 1,500 hrs – mainly collected during the time when I went
to university and when I was a flight instructor for PPL students at the same
time (I was freelancing and collected some 600+ hrs training at that time). The
planes I have flown are Mooney, Piper Arrows and all the Cessnas as well as
French built planes. I have owned a gardan Horizon (French) and a Grumman AA-1
(the 1969 model with the early wing) in the past (the AA-1 was the best fun I
ever had - however certainly a bit underpowerd).
I now fly an Eggenfellner Subaru H-6 powered French built all wood Robin 2+2
seater which I have converted from a Lyco powered plane to the Eggenfellner
Subaru H-6 with my friend Hans from the Netherlands (search for the callsign
´PH-ERD´ on youtube). The conversion was relatively easy and PH-ERD performs
flawlessly since day one without weight penalty and without any cooling issues -
if someone wants information on that let me know.
After that enjoyable year of flying I realise that 95% of my flying is alone, 3%
with one more person on board and ca. 2% with my family (wife, 2 kids at the age
of 10 and 12). The family likes flying a lot and will not give up on PH-ERD for
sure. However as I have got a partner in on PH-ERD I am now searching for a 2
seater for my trips like mentioned above as I would like to go faster than 125
to 130 kts TAS (that´s what the Robin does at 8 to 8.5 gals fuel flow per hr).
I don´t want to go for a single seater as even when my kids won´t want to go
where I go at the same time (say at the age of 16 or 18) I will travel with my
wife (she is 5 ft 2" at 105 lb) than.
So the mission statement is
• VFR day, legs up to 330NM at ca. 145 kts TAS at 7 gals / hr
• Carry me (I am 6 ft 2" at ca. 200 lb – and that´s the problem, I suppose) on
board with 30 lb baggage and every now and than one light weight person like my
wife plus a little luggage as well
• In case of WX trouble I need an ADI and an autopilot like the TruTrak
Digiflight VS I have now for comfort.
AND HERE WE GO WITH MY QUESTION (sorry it took so long to get there): I am 6 ft
2" at ca. 200 lb and my body is 35.5" tall when I sit - do I fit in a Sidewinder
or not? I don´t know if I have one near me (Germany/Europe) to try.
So – can you guys advise please.
Many thanks, Heinz
__________________
Eggenfellner H-6 powered 4-seat Robin, ´PH-ERD´
130hrs since 1. SEP 2008 .... counting
Homebased EDLT (Muenster-Telgte, Germany, Europe)