RV-8 owners

acam37 · #1 12-08-2016, 04:22 PM

Does anyone near me have an infinity military stick grip and the bent stick setup in their 8 that I could look at? My 8 has the stock short stick and foam grip. I would like to see if there is a consideral comfort and ergonomic improvement.

Veetail88 · #2 12-08-2016, 04:38 PM

Not close and I don't have a bent stick; just shooting you my unsolicited opinion.

I do have the infinity grip and I love it. The switches being on the stick are just the way an airplane stick should be. I have the trim china hat along with the PTT of course, plus flap switch with DPDT switch momentary contact only on the down. Throw the switch on the ground and the flaps just go all the way up. Works well. Also have autopilot disconnect on there and a smoke button (no smoke yet). As far as I'm concerned I made the infinity grip decision perfectly. Do be careful on go around to milk the flaps up though.

I think the bent stick would be nice. When I'm flying, i generally rest my hand on my leg and fly with fingertips. If I wanted to have a death grip on the stick all the time I would be reaching a bit. Since a solid grip is seldom required, (usually on autopilot if I'm going anywhere) it's all good. Still, if you can bend it, I don't think that would suck.

Stu McCurdy · #3 12-08-2016, 06:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by acam37

Does anyone near me have an infinity military stick grip and the bent stick setup in their 8 that I could look at? My 8 has the stock short stick and foam grip. I would like to see if there is a consideral comfort and ergonomic improvement.

I do have an Infinity stick grip and bent stick in my RV-8. Only way to fly comfortably. In cruise I sit normally in seat with stick grip between my legs rearward of my knees, elbow on my thigh. I get full aft when grip hits my seat belt and full forward as grip hits bottom of panel.

I am in Georgetown KGTU.

acam37 · #4 12-08-2016, 07:12 PM

That sounds like what we are looking for. I'm in a partnership and my co-owner and I immediately noticed that the stick position was terrible compared to the RV-4 we just sold. We didn't find out until after we bought the plane and actually got to fly it. I would like to sit in one and see the difference for myself. No immediate time frame, but definitely before we fly to SNF in April.

acam37 · #5 12-08-2016, 07:17 PM

Oh BTW Stu, my cousin just bought a house near the airport over there so I plan on flying over soon. Only 1hr from KOCH Nacogdoches. If I do I will look you up.

greghughespdx · #6 12-08-2016, 10:59 PM

Used to be someone was bending sticks for people who wanted it. That still happening? Or are people only doing their own these days? I could bend my own of course but would be interested to know where and how much people are bending both front and rear sticks with Infinity grips in a RV-8.

Check6 · #7 12-09-2016, 07:55 AM

I have a bent infinity stick as well and will second Stu's comments. The only way to fly, especially formation so you can lock your wrist and arm down. I am in Georgetown as well.

scrollF4 · #8 12-09-2016, 08:11 AM

Here are my bent sticks and infinity grips:

Take a look at my build log's flight control section, starting at the bottom of the page to see how I went about this process:

http://mykitlog.com/users/category.p...&category=9467

DanH · #9 12-09-2016, 08:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by greghughespdx

Used to be someone was bending sticks for people who wanted it. That still happening? Or are people only doing their own these days? I could bend my own of course but would be interested to know where and how much people are bending both front and rear sticks with Infinity grips in a RV-8.

May not want to bend the rear stick. I've had a few big belly fellows in the back seat, and it can be real easy to bump a straight stick against their seat belt during a "controls free" check.

Same thing can happen up front. I once scared the snot out of myself because I got an elevator trim button (4-button MAC grip) against the belt buckle while looping another fellow's RV-8. I found myself pushing during the last 1/4 to keep g reasonable...something which will make you real nervous

Not sayin' don't do it. Just check the ergonomics.

acam37 · #10 12-09-2016, 09:12 AM

Thanks for the replies. We did a lot of research on the front stick issue and there is a lot of good information. I actually bought a new stick from Vans and couldn't find a local shop who had bending dies that were 1". So we tried our hand at packing it full of sand and using the torch method. It didn't work and kinked. So before investing in another stick I want to see that setup in person. And from what I read, no one is the stick bending business anymore.