Will the stick hit this? (with pictures)

Hello guys,

My third try, this time with pictures!

I want to wire my stick-grip and need to know if I have to shorten the sticks or not. The gadget you see in the pictures was inspired by the big airliners that also have retractable trays for writing on and clipping flight plans, approach plates, etc, in the instrument panel.

When trying to hit the tray with the stick, I have to move my leg over and push the stick against the CAD-Seat cushions, so I was wondering how much the stick travels, left and right, when the controls are connected up? (please also include the length of your stick). If the stick still hits the tray when the contols are conencted, I will have to shorten the stick, so it can go under the tray, but I guess for maximum control and minimum stick-forces, it’s better to leave the stick in the original length, right?







Regards, Tonny

I was just going through this with my 6. I went to two others and found the stick at max travel moves about 20 degrees from perpendicular.

Tonny,

If you give your RV that much aileron, you are either taxiing or doing a roll. IMHO, that will not be a problem.

Yes I think so

I had a subpanel for four engine controls initially and the stick hit that, which is up in the vertical plane of the instrument panel. I cut the stick off to clear it. Later I had to reduce the width of the sub panel anyway so that it would not cause considerable leg discomfort for my wife on long trips. All that aside I am rather certain that the stock stick configuration will hit the tray. You could use the 20 degree from vertical measurement provided by an earlier post to be more certain. Be sure to check both sticks if you are going to install the right stick - I did and I had intereference with the left stick only.

Bob Axsom

N941WR said:

If you give your RV that much aileron, you are either taxiing or doing a roll. IMHO, that will not be a problem.

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A few additonal comments:
1. If your stick hits anything within its normal throw (i.e. final rigging complete, and control stops installed), your DAR or inspector will be obligated to have you fix it before signing off your airplane, whether or not you plan to ever use that much control deflection or not. They won't cut you any slack on things impinging on flight controls.

2. You might very well use (and want) every bit of control deflection the plane has available in the event of a wake-vortex encounter. Make sure you leave enough room for your hand between the stick grip and anything sharp!

3. Your tray looks useful, but if you're flying an instrument approach, just remember that your hand will be on the engine controls for much of the time, and might block your view of the approach plate as you have it depicted. I'd think it would be tough to have to remove my hand from the controls and lean over to see the tiny text (frequencies, missed approach instructions, etc.) during a high-workload environment.

Just my observations. Looks like a cool idea, though!

Tonny, I think you may be fine, but wait until you get all your controls hooked up before you start cutting the controls down. You'll be surprised how little the control stick moves once everything is sorted out.

Cam

Real numbers anybody ?

Chuck,
20? from perpendicular, but that is for a ?6?, right?. I will check it tonight anyway. Thanks.

Bill,
It?s not the question weather I will use that much deflection in normal conditions, it?s about what could happen if the stick was actually moved that much and then became stuck underneath the tray!

Bob,
you cut the stick shorter, how much shorter? Do you still feel you have good control and are the forces not higher now, that you have less leverage?

Buck,
You are right, the controls should not be obstructed and also I do not want to hit my hand on anything in flight. We are not allowed IFR over here with experimentals, so it?s VFR only. I will use it most for my flight plan during a XC, write on it when I get initial clearances, copy the weather from an automatic transmittal, things that I would normally do on my knee-pad. But this saves me a sweaty leg on longer flights. Ones in the circuit for landing, it will probably be shoved back in and out of the way.

Any numbers (especially for the ?9?) would still be welcome! Mm/inches from perpendicular @ mm/inches stick length, will do.

Thanks everybody for the input, Tonny

Pilottonny said:

Any numbers (especially for the ?9?) would still be welcome! Mm/inches from perpendicular @ mm/inches stick length, will do.

Thanks everybody for the input, Tonny

Click to expand...

Tonny
I can give you numbers for a 9 but to be honest you really need to get everything rigged before you decide to cut the stick. I know these planes seem to just fall together, but they are truly individual planes and my numbers may not work for you.

As far as cutting the stick down, I wouldn't unless you absolutely had to. I would fly first before cutting it down.


Cam

I can't give you numbers, but the pilot's stick in my -6 has been cut down considerably. When I had my Garmin 195 it was vertical and stuck down from the panel. I cut the stick to clear it. It's probably cut at least 3". And I have no trouble flying acro.
As a DAR, I can tell you that it will not pass my inspection if the stick hits anything within full throw. If you have switches on top, you must also have "thumb" clearance.

Only 20? stick deflection would be OK!

Chuck, I checked: if the 20? also goes for the 9, it's OK. To hit the tray it takes at least 30? or more (guestimating), so there would even be room for fingers.

If I have to cut the stick to allow the Ray-Allen stick grip to go under, I will have to cut approx. 3 Inch from the Pilot stick and 2,5 Inch from the Passenger stick (it seems that all passenger sticks are about 1/2 Inch shorter than the Pilot sticks). It seems a lot, but than again there is a lot of people here on the forums that have shorter sticks than that.

Let's see if somebody comes up with real numbers.

Regards, Tonny.

Test Flight - stick movements are...

Last Wednesday (between visits to Sun-n-Fun) my wife and I went to Plant City for a 9A test flight.

If you push the stick that far over you will be rolling to inverted flight in short order. The RV series "defines" finger-tip flying. It was simply amazing. The grin started right at about 2,000 and stopped when the flight ended (too soon).

I will be interested in how your stick and tray work out. A really interesting mod!

Thanks

I just ordered an Infinity Stick at SnF, I think it is an inch shorter than the stock stick. I wouldn't cut the pilot stick off more than 2". My problem was I thought it might interfere with the Throttle (sub panel). I will move the throttle over to the right before I cut more than 2". Copilot stick really doesn't matter much, I would just cut it for clearance.

No it doesn't !

I spoke to Ken from Vans and he measured it for me on the company 9. Left and right deflections are 5" from center. This is from the top of the Vans molded stick-grip. So I am fine, the stick will not hit the tray and there will even be room to spare for the fingers. Great.

Regards, Tonny.

A heavier feeling airplane

Tonny,

I cut my stick like others here have mentioned but for a differing reasons. Not to hijack your thread, but cutting the stick will give a sensation of "Heavier" control surfaces which I wanted. Secondly I sat in the plane in the garage for about an hour and let my body assume whatever position that was going to likely be how I would sit on a long trip (slouching or whatever) and with my left arm on the armrest found where the hand rested on the stick without making my arm uncomfortable. The stick was cut accordingly. The feel in my plane is noticably heavier than other RV's that I've flown in and you might not like the result.