While checking out the Canadian Air Force website today I ran across a tidbit of information that made me chuckle. It seems that now our Air Force pilots are going to be measured to see if we have an aircraft that’s their size.
The cockpits of aircraft are tight quarters, to be sure. I’ve sat in the cockpit of a Tutor (the same plane the Snow Birds fly) and even little ‘ol me felt a little claustrophobic in that cramped space. So one can only imagine the need to insure that our men and women are the right size early in their training.
These new anthropometric standards are replacing the 40 year old screening process that was deemed out dated due to its “one size fits all” approach. The new method takes into account a growing number of female pilots as well as the need for more specific body measurement matching for each individual aircraft. The hope is that this program, with its more accurate body measurements and cockpit size database, will allow the Air Force to immediately match potential pilots with suitable aircraft.
Canada is the first country in the world to use this technology and, though the thought of being measured for an aircraft brings a few jokes to mind, I do have to say I’m proud of our Air Force for this new technology. A measurement standard created 40 years ago no doubt failed to take women into account at all and probably excluded a lot of females from flying the larger aircraft—if any at all.
Now in my case you’d have to put blocks on the peddles of the Hercules CC130 (just kidding) but it should be interesting to see if the Air Force has a rise in the amount of women pilots. Now if I could just be a fly on the wall when a pilot walks into servicing and asks, “Do you have any aircraft in a size 10?” 🙂