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Rudder pedals

sabswbc

Well Known Member
I have a young lady interested in flying my 12, but can not reach the pedals. Has anyone come up with a solution other than moving the seat or moving the pedal forward. These options leave me a couple inches short.

Sam Butler
 
Just trying to read into your request... Is this short person going to do ground handling / T.O. / landing... or just fly in the air? I have let lots of kids fly from the right seat with just stick input and they do fine in the air. Rudder of course needs to be coordinated in other phases of flight but kids do fine with a "joystick" like they are familiar with on computer games.

If rudder is necessary I guess you could add blocks of wood like is done for pedals when a kid is growing into a larger bicycle. Adding extensions for brakes would be a challenge.
 
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You might try what I did, cheap and easy, fixed the problem perfectly. I just added another hinge half about two inches forward of the original two. Not only gave me feet on the pedals nicely, but with a bit of a pot gut it also gives me a much more comfortable position.
You cannot go much more than that, the stick hits the seat and the seat belt does not want to come up thru the slot very well.
 
If you attach the blocks to the pedals themselves, and extend them below the bottom bar on the "U", you can get a geometry that allows brake activation *and* rudder-only activation.

If the combination of blocks on the pedals and seat fully forward isn't enough, you're not going to have a lot of options other than some kind of custom-designed pedal arrangement.
 
While two of my daughters were able to fly our -6 tail dragger using just additional cushions, my other daughter is so petit that she needed more than that.
So, I used a thick chunk of model-maker's balsa, cutting it to the size of the rudder pedals. It was thick enough to stick aft, beyond the rudder pedal bars.
On top of this, I used flat-head wood screws to attach 1/2" thick plywood, as wide as the pedals but longer, so that they would be the same height as the pedals but hang down beyond the bottom of the rudder bars. From the side, these blocks then looked like a capital letter 'P", with the rounded part of the "P" actually flat as that would be the part attached to the metal rudder pedals.
I held these blocks up to the pedals and traced all the lightening holes on the back of the balsa, this gave me two spots where there was enough metal to attach the blocks to.
Then I used a drill press to drill backwards between the scribes circles, one hole at the top and one near the bottom.
Then, using a long drill bit, I held the blocks in place on the pedals and drilled through the pedals themselves.
After that, it only took tapping the holes in the pedals for the screw threads and off to the hardware store for the correct size screws that ended up being about three inches long.
I also oversized the tops of the holes in the plywood so that the screws would not sit proud.
Takes about five minutes to install or remove...
 
Might be working on the wrong thing here...

Something like this for the young lady might solve the problem and could be complementary to almost any color scheme. :D

ri7vbt.png
 
I put a 2.5" thick pad behind the seatback, made by Flightline Interiors. It works great.
I have read more than one story about using extensions on the rudder pedals that came loose and jammed the rudder with a bad outcome. I have also seen some questionable homemade wood designs with bungees that I wouldn't want to install.
 
Just wondering why the Van's pedal extensions are so pricy.
Would a back pillow and an additional piano hinge for the back rest compensate as well?
 
My extensions

Rob Reese supplies excellent pedal extenders. On/Off in less than a minute. Secure in flight. Last known price was $140/pair. See: http://www.mykitlog.com/users/displ...Reese&project=795&category=0&log=119181&row=1

Since I'm identified as a rudder pedal peddler, here are my observations:

My extensions are constructed primarily of white UHMW plastic with bolts and screws to hold things together, along with a spring-loaded clip to attach to the existing pedal. The design is such that the extensions quickly snap in place and take a firm pull to remove, but I added Velcro straps that can be used to further secure the extensions to the pedals. They will extend the rudder pedals by 2-3/4 inches and the brake pedals by 3-1/4 inches. The downside is that a pair weighs in at about 26 ounces. (The extensions from Van's are a good all-aluminum design which is much lighter, but the price does seem a bit steep to me.) A picture of my current design can be found in the forum topic "Pedal Extensions?" started by BigJohn. The pictures previously referenced were from my original design.

The extensions were designed for my favorite pilot/wife who stands about 5'2", and she uses the extensions along with an added 4- to 5-inch thick seat back cushion. Experience from others is that if you are in the 5'6" range, seatback padding, (available from Abby at Flightline Interiors) will probably do the trick for you without the extensions, IF your full aft-stick-to-bellybutton distance doesn't go into the negative range with the seatback cushions.

I have one or two sets left. PM me for details.
 
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