Narrative:

PIC is [taller than average] and during preflight determined that he could not safely operate the aircraft with the left seat in any position. In the far aft and down [seat] position; his eyes were level with the top of the windows and he could not see one third of the engine instrument gauges. Also; he had to spread his knees apart to keep the control yoke from hitting them during full aileron deflection. His eye line was above the design eye reference point (derp) sight line and he could not get it to go lower.he called company maintenance control and was referred to the assistant chief pilot (acp) on duty. Acp talked to him about the problem; but almost immediately escalated it by asking PIC if he was 'refusing to fly the aircraft.' PIC told him he was not refusing to fly; but felt that he could not operate the aircraft in a safe manner. Subsequent conversations with chief pilot (cp) relayed the cp's belief that it was normal for every pilot to have to lower their head to see instruments; or see outside the cockpit; or have to make adjustments to be able to fly the aircraft; and that he did not consider the seat unsafe to use for flight operations. That PIC felt threatened with respect to his employment status cannot be questioned. He felt he had notified the company of a legitimate safety concern and he was rebuffed by the cp who gave him circular reasoning why he thought it was acceptable for him to operate the aircraft without full outside vision; full movement of controls; and full vision of the flight instrument panel.the company's solution to the problem was to switch PIC's rather than address the issue of a seat cushion; which no longer meets the original equipment manufacturer's (oem) standards. In subsequent discussions; it was learned that our company has asked cessna to replace pilot seat cushions with larger than original cushions because the original ones were wearing out too quickly. This results in a seating position too high for a tall person; and outside of the far part 25 derp standards; but our company continues to ignore the problem and is pressuring crewmembers to fly aircraft they feel are unsafe for them to operate.suggest removing the new cushions and go back to the oem standard design. We had 10-years of excel operations with these cushions with no problems for taller crewmembers. If the old design cushions wear out sooner; so be it. Replace them. Safety shouldn't be compromised because it is inconvenient to replace a part.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Flight crew report about the inability of tall pilots to safely operate CE-560XL aircraft with the new thicker replacement cushions for pilot seats that reduces vertical seat adjustments; restricts full outside vision; restricts full movement of flight controls and full vision of flight instrument panels. The new cushions no longer meet the Original Equipment Manufacturer's (OEM) standards for 560XL pilot seats.

Narrative: PIC is [taller than average] and during preflight determined that he could not safely operate the aircraft with the left seat in any position. In the far aft and down [seat] position; his eyes were level with the top of the windows and he could not see one third of the engine instrument gauges. Also; he had to spread his knees apart to keep the control yoke from hitting them during full aileron deflection. His eye line was above the Design Eye Reference Point (DERP) sight line and he could not get it to go lower.He called company Maintenance Control and was referred to the Assistant Chief Pilot (ACP) on duty. ACP talked to him about the problem; but almost immediately escalated it by asking PIC if he was 'refusing to fly the aircraft.' PIC told him he was not refusing to fly; but felt that he could not operate the aircraft in a safe manner. Subsequent conversations with Chief Pilot (CP) relayed the CP's belief that it was normal for every pilot to have to lower their head to see instruments; or see outside the cockpit; or have to make adjustments to be able to fly the aircraft; and that he did not consider the seat unsafe to use for flight operations. That PIC felt threatened with respect to his employment status cannot be questioned. He felt he had notified the company of a legitimate safety concern and he was rebuffed by the CP who gave him circular reasoning why he thought it was acceptable for him to operate the aircraft without full outside vision; full movement of controls; and full vision of the flight instrument panel.The company's solution to the problem was to switch PIC's rather than address the issue of a seat cushion; which no longer meets the Original Equipment Manufacturer's (OEM) standards. In subsequent discussions; it was learned that our company has asked Cessna to replace pilot seat cushions with larger than original cushions because the original ones were wearing out too quickly. This results in a seating position too high for a tall person; and outside of the FAR Part 25 DERP standards; but our company continues to ignore the problem and is pressuring crewmembers to fly aircraft they feel are unsafe for them to operate.Suggest removing the new cushions and go back to the OEM standard design. We had 10-years of Excel operations with these cushions with no problems for taller crewmembers. If the old design cushions wear out sooner; so be it. Replace them. Safety shouldn't be compromised because it is inconvenient to replace a part.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.