Tall pilots and leg room

[EzraDunlop]

Hi everyone, I’ve been looking at buying a Pietenpol and was wondering about the cockpit size. I’m 6’4” and interested to hear the thoughts of any similarly sized pilots. Is there enough room that your knees don’t hit the panel? Are there ways of modifying an already built piets to give more leg room? I know the best option would be to just find one and sit in it but there aren’t any nearby that I know of. I could just fit into a Flybaby with my knees almost touching the bottom of the panel for reference. Thanks in advance for the help!

[Earl Brown]

Where are you located?

[EzraDunlop]

Southern alberta

[Spark6]

Ezra, at 6' 1", I'm not quite as tall as you are, but I don't have any trouble with legroom on my Piet. I'm even able to fly in hiking boots, though it takes a little longer to thread myself into the cockpit properly. I DO find that, sitting straight up, I'm a bit above the windscreen protection in cruise, but that can be remedied with a windscreen change and hasn't bothered me yet.

[taildrags]

I'm only 5'-9" so I don't have a valid opinion on this, but I would venture to say that there could be several inches' difference between two pilots who are both 6'-4". One could be long in the torso, the other could have long legs. The pilot with the longer torso would probably be looking out over the top of the windscreen but with legs that fit fine, while the other might sit lower in the cockpit but have to fly with knees bent. It's best to just find a Piet and sit in it to see how you fit.

Oscar Zuniga
Medford, OR
Air Camper NX41CC, A75 power

[EzraDunlop]

If I wasn’t able to sit down and get my knees below the panel would it be difficult to move the rudder pedals forward in the fuselage a few inches?

[taildrags]

You would most likely have to either eliminate the front seat or develop a different front seat design, because if you move the rudder bar forward very much, it'll be touching the front seat support at full deflection.

-Oscar

[Spark6]

I think, like Oscar says, if you have a rudder bar, you're likely stuck. If you have pedals, you might be able to re-mount them. It's a fairly straightforward system on mine, but moving the pedals forward on my particular aircraft WOULD render my brakes unusable. YMMV.