The saga continues...
Having been promised a 'fit' test in an Airbus sim from a well known uk school, I found myself being given the runaround for the last month, only to be told that the chief instructor had a doubt that a sim test would be conclusive.
He basically questioned the seating in the sim, whether it was identical to the actual aircraft, whether it was affected by the presence (or lack of) of bulk heads etc.
Anyhow, I have pursued this with another of the big uk schools who were happy to seat me in both their Airbus and Boeing sims.
Their instructors took the time to go through correct position, eye line, rudder pedals and breaks, as well as maximum arm reach to overhead panels etc.
I'm very glad to say that they concluded that I 'fit' and would be adequate to train. They said that the issue of 'full' back was perfectly adequate and not restricted.
I also spoke to the in-house engineer who assured me that their full flight sims are absoultely identical to actual airliners and suitable for making this judgment.
However, a friend of mine who works in HR (not aviation) has asked the difficult question, which is:
"will being short reduce employment opportunites?"
That is, do airlines discriminate, perhaps because they want some stereotypical pilot?
Do you have any thoughts?
Thanks.