Ergonomic and anthropometric issues of the forward Apache crew station

This paper describes the anthropometric accommodation in the Apache crew systems. These activities are part of a comprehensive project, in a cooperative effort from the Armstrong Laboratory at Wright Patterson Air Force Base (Dayton, Ohio, USA) and TNO Human Factors Research Institute (TNO HFRI) in The Netherlands. The main objective of the project is to develop effective methods for anthropometric accommodation of crew systems, during the design process of military aircraft. As a part of this project the Royal Netherlands Airforce asked TNO for a brief examination of the anthropometric selection criteria used for selection of Apache pilots. The criere verified in this examination in order to check their validity and to check if more anthropometric selection criteria were needed. The verification process consisted of three steps. The crew station was measured using a 3D measuring device (the 'FARO arm'). The resulting data were used to compose a 3D CAD model of the crew station using Pro Engineer. The CAD model was used for the actual assessment using BMD HMS (Boeing McDonnell Douglas Human Modelling System). After the verification it was found that the anthropometric selection criteria for stature and sitting height were valid for the Apache crew station. Other selection criteria, for buttock-knee length and popliteal height, are far from valid: most candidate pilots would be rejected if the pilot were to be seated in an ergonomically acceptable posture in the Apache crew station. Additional anthropometric selection criteria for buttock-knee length, popliteal height and arm length are needed for an accurate anthropometric seleic selection procedure. The preliminary investigation resulted also in an efficient and fast anthropometric accommodation procedure, using the above mentioned 3D tools. This opened the possibility to test future crew stations on anthropometric aspects in an early stage of the design of new crew station. The Royal Netherlands Airforce can directly gain insight in the anthropometric qualities of these crew stations, and foresee potential anthropometric selection problems. This insight can be gained without the need for a full-scale mockup of the crew station