Aircraft interiors, effects on the human body and experienced comfort

Have you ever sat in a cramped airplane? Sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with limited legroom might not be a comfortable experience while flying in an airplane. Therefore, human anthropometrics or body dimensions are important to consider when designing for interiors used by a large population. To accommodate people of all sizes, a certain minimum...

Desktop lighting for comfortable use of a computer screen

BACKGROUND: The contrast between a bright computer screen and a dark ambient environment may influence comfort of the users, especially on their eyes. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this research is to identify the optimal desktop lighting for the comfortable use of the computer screen in a dark environment. METHODS: An experiment was designed...

Seat pitch and comfort of a staggered seat configuration

BACKGROUND: Staggered seats are a solution for the Flying-V aircraft, where the cabin's longitudinal axis has a 26 degrees angle with respect to the direction of flight, to compensate for an otherwise oblique sitting position. However, little is known on acceptable pitches in this staggered configuration. OBJECTIVE: The goal of this research...

Development of physical discomfort of airline pilots during prolonged sitting

Discomfort was recorded by 26 airline pilots during flight. Thirteen reported their discomfort during a long haul flight and 13 completed the questionnaires during short haul flights. Discomfort values increased with time to high values, but with a modest decrease towards the end of the flight. Most discomfort was reported in the low back area....

The effect of 17-inch-wide and 18-inch-wide airplane passenger seats on comfort

The pitch and width of airline seats are crucial factors on the comfort of passengers. The aim of this study is to measure the comfort feeling of passengers regarding different widths and together with data from a previous study, to offer suggestions on the aircraft interior design. 311 participants were recruited and were asked to sit in 17...

PCQ: Preferred Comfort Questionnaires for product design

BACKGROUND: Selecting the most suitable questionnaire(s) in comfort research for product design is always a challenge, even for experienced researchers. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this research is to create a list of Preferred Comfort Questionnaires (PCQ) for product design to help researchers in the selection of questionnaires for comfort...

Designing a floor plan using aircraft seat comfort knowledge by aircraft interior experts

BACKGROUND: Recent research indicated that an 18′′ ×30′′ aircraft seat resulted in nearly the same level of comfort as a 17′′ ×34′′ seat. However, it took less space in the floor plan. OBJECTIVES: This study explores seat layouts preferred by experts regarding different criteria. Those results of the experts are later compared to layouts...

A Staggered Seat is Beneficial for the Flying V Aircraft

Staggered seats might be a solution for a V-shaped aircraft (the Flying V). The cabin longitudinal axis of this airplane has a 26° angle with respect to the direction of flight. When seats are positioned in the direction of flight, they consequently have an angle to the cabin and become staggered. It is unknown whether the comfort of this...

The effect of aircraft seat pitch on comfort

This study explores the relationship between seat pitch and comfort, and the influencing factors, like space experience and anthropometric measurements. Two hundred ninety-four participants experienced economy class seats in a Boeing 737 with 28-inch, 30-inch, 32-inch and 34-inch seat pitches. Anthropometric measurements of the participants...

Differences and similarities in comfort and discomfort experience in nine countries in Asia, the Americas and Europe

In order to investigate differences in comfort and discomfort experiences amongst different regions of the world (America, Asia and Europe), a cross cultural study was performed. A questionnaire was sent to participants out in nine countries (Brazil, Canada, the USA, China, Indonesia, Thailand, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands). In total...

Towards a hybrid comfortable passenger cabin interior for the flying V aircraft

The Flying-V is a V-shaped airplane, which uses less fuel due its form. Passengers are in the oval cabin in the wing, which asks for an alternative design to the interior as the cabin is not in the flying direction. At the same time there is a demand for more comfortable interiors. 80 students were asked to develop interior design ideas for this...

Towards comfortable communication in future vehicles

This research aims to study the effect of seat and/or backrest rotation on comfort and quality of conversation. Different sitting arrangements were tested to study the effect of the seat layout on: 1) (dis)comfort experience; 2) conversation quality and 3) postures. Two seats were arranged in different angles (0° 45° 90° and 180°) at the same...

Improving airplane boarding time: A review, a field study and an experiment with a new way of hand luggage stowing

The airplane (de)boarding process is not organized optimally. The goal of this paper is to search for improvement possibilities. In this paper literature is reviewed, boarding characteristics are studied in a field study and a pilot study with a new way of hand luggage stowing is performed. Computer simulations indicate that there are more...