Height limits?

[KVNY]

Hello all. I'm interested in becoming a military pilot. Only problem: I'm nearly 6' 5"! Just wondering how my height will affect my chances of becoming a pilot. I'm interested in either the USAF or the Army Warrant officer program (depending on whether or not i can bring my grades up enough to get into a decent college lol). Are the requirements for a helo slot any different than those for a fixed wing slot?

 

[MarineGrunt]

We have a dude in my UPT class that is probably 6'5". I'm 6'2" and he towers over me....

There are waivers for anything and everything, well, almost.

 

[KVNY]

We have a dude in my UPT class that is probably 6'5". I'm 6'2" and he towers over me....

There are waivers for anything and everything, well, almost.

Ok, thanks for the info. Guess I wont worry bout it too much then

 

[Purpledog]

If you have a problem it will probably be the "butt to knee" length if you want to fly anything that has an ejection seat. That is a snag for many tall guys.

 

[Yellow Snow]

I had a company commander/blackhawk pilot who was about 6'5". Funny thing is he was a kiowa pilot before he came to our blackhawk unit. Funny because his seated height was about two inches more than mine and I was turned down for flying sargeant job on kiowa because my seated height was too tall. Guess if you're an officer the rules just don't mean much.

If you want to fly rotor why don't you really get the grades up so you can compete for Air Battle Captain scolarship (I guess they still call it that) at the University of North Dakota. You can qualify as an army rotor pilot while completing college and the army will may for the whole thing. Its a very competitive scholarship and you pay for the first year but if you get the deal the sophomore thru senior is on the army. Its about 150 thousand worth of training.

 

[cforst513]

have a friend who told me the story that when he was 14 or 15 and 6'1" he asked an airforce fighter pilot if he was too tall to fly fighters, which was his dream at the time. the pilot said no way, you're still growing, you'll be too tall. well, he was right, the guy is like 6'4" or something now, but when he grew up and got a real job he found out that it'd be cramped but he could definitely have flown fighters. also, look to flying freight or something in a C-5 Galaxy, C-130, etc, as another option.

 

[G100F16]

Hello all. I'm interested in becoming a military pilot. Only problem: I'm nearly 6' 5"! QUOTE]

I flew F16s with a guy that must've been 6' 5". His nickname was 'Lurch', go figure. Also flew with a dude probably 6' 3" and about 230lb. Not an easy fit in a Viper...but he did it. I now have a friend who is a flt doc down at Brooks (USAF Med Center) and handles waivers. I'll try to get the 'skinny' from him.

2-33 and L-23 time....you are off to a great start. I cherish my 2-33 time almost as much as my Viper time.

 

[Huggyu2]

I can't find it right now, but there's an article on www.af.mil in the last month about an Academy guy that was 6' 6" and too tall. He had a rock climbing accident where he fell 50' and compressed his spine. He's now 6' 5", healed up, and heading to pilot training this year.

 

[Slye]

I flew F16s with a guy that must've been 6' 5". His nickname was 'Lurch', go figure.

There's an IP at XL who previously flew F-16s, his nickname is Lurch, perhaps the same guy? I don't think he's quite 6' 5" though.

 

[Below Mins]

Hello all. I'm interested in becoming a military pilot. Only problem: I'm nearly 6' 5"! Just wondering how my height will affect my chances of becoming a pilot.

I got a height waiver back in the mid 80s. They put me in both a T-37 and T-38 to make sure I had sufficient head/knee clearance in case I had to eject. I was ROTC and the only downside was that I had to travel to a UPT base for the evaluation at my own expense, but obviously it was well worth it.

 

[DocBuzz]

Height restrictions in Air Force

The US Air Force standards are pretty clear on height; the disqualifying heights are available in AFI 48-123 and AFPAM 48-133. To quote from 48-123 16.2:

FLYING CLASS 1 STANDING HEIGHT DISQUALIFIED IF >77" or <64" , OR IF SITTING HEIGHT >40" or <34"

Sounds like you just make it. There are aircraft specific limitations for certain airframes, and those restrictions are based on butt to knee measurement. They will do anthropometric measurements on you at your initial Flying class I physical.

I have known of some folks who have been given waivers for excessive height, but they have usually been football or basketball stars at one of the service academies (for example former Dallas Cowboy and A-10 pilot Chad Hennings)

Hope this helps.

Buzz

 

[KVNY]

hey guys. thanks a lot for all the replies. i've been kinda worried about this for a while now, so its good to know that its really not that big a deal. thanks again.

 

[G100F16]

There's an IP at XL who previously flew F-16s, his nickname is Lurch, perhaps the same guy? I don't think he's quite 6' 5" though.

I dunno - probably different dude...this guy was Kunsan around '91.

For 9G- my buddy the flight doc read this thread and is gonna get access so he can answer your question "formally/informally". Quick answer is 77" is the max...so stop taking your multi-vitamin!

 

[stonewall]

Flew Vipers with a guy who was no-sh** 6'4-1/2" and 290 at one point. He's slimmed down now to about 265ish and goes on crash diets to get to 245 when he's weighed for the ejection seat. I think there's switches on the aft quadrants he's never seen.

 

[DFWFlowmo]

Can you say "Scrunch"

6'5"+ 235 here. No Waiver.

I spent 9 years scrunching" down during my Class ones. Never had a problem.

All you had to do was look at my knee caps and the canopy bow of the T-37 and I knew that an ejection wouldn't be pretty. The back seat of the T-38 was ok with it lowered all the way, but with a seat kit like in the "Smurf Jet" it was almost impossible. Try checking six and leaning forward at the same time, not fun. My shoulders touched the sides of the canopy rails in the Phantom. The Viper was surprising comfortable. I had much more room in there, could have been the seat recline.

The hight limits in Naval Aviation were High, 6'6" but their sitting height was more restrictive.

The ghouls at Brooks got ahold of my while I was at PIT. The were taking measurements for the "Combat Edge" system. I was in the 99 percentile in everyone they took. NO, they didn't measure that, get your minds out of the gutter.

 

[Yellow Snow]

I was having my class one for flying sargeant and the nurse was taking my measurements. I'm only 6'3" but I have the arms of a gorilla. The nurse told me to stand with my back against the wall and my left fingertip in the corner and stretch my right arm so he could measure my wingspan. My fingers went completely off the scale they had on the wall. They had to get a measuring tape and calculate my reach cause I was about two inches too wide. They didn't fail you for ape arms but the extra three cm on seated height killed me for the flying sargeant job and I had to do a WOFT packet. So much for the easy route.

Oh by the way this was in 1989, I think the flying sargeant program is gone in the army and I'm certain in today's enlistment climate the medical standards have been "relaxed".