By Fritz Weinrebe on 02 September 2007

I believe planning is a very important aspect of any project.  That's why I decided to do some experimenting with the layout and size of the cockpit. 

Since the ejection seat is assembled, I decided to use it as the reference point.  A photo was found on the Internet of a pilot sitting in a Pilatus PC-9M.  For comparison I took a photo of me sitting on the seat with the panel mock-up in front.   Both photos were then opened in a photo editor program and were scaled to the same size.  It turns out that my (gu)estimates were a bit out.  I realised that I need a temporary rig to hold the Instrument panel upright so that I can tweak the position comparing it with the photo I found. (I wish I had a plan of a real PC-9M). 

This is what it looks like at the moment (Note the side panels, cut out of paper, next to he seat.) :

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