Control Lock Idea

[rv6ejguy]

Originally Posted by osxuser

I disagree with the statement that internal locks will cause appreciable wear. 38 year old Cessna Cardinal that sat outside almost all it's life is still doing great. Internal locks work fine, and there is a much smaller chance of forgetting those.

I was just talking to an A&P (we call them AMEs up here) friend here a couple months ago. They had a Tiger in for major repairs totalling about $8K to replace cables, hinges, rod ends, rudder parts etc. Been parked outside in Southern Alberta (very windy place) for 2 years with just the yoke pin in place. Totally trashed a lot of parts.

A lock on the stick is like having a wide open throttle stop on a throttle linkage at the carb end rather than the actuation end. I've seen many cables broken over time in performance cars with this improper setup as the cable is heavily loaded at WOT.

Not doing control checks before every flight is not smart as we saw with the tragic VLJ crash last year. Make it the first item on your checklist.

As I said, for parking for the day or the week, yoke locks are fine but for long term use, external locks are better. The RV rudder with cable actuation is the easiest to damage and the hardest to lock internally but so easy to do externally. It's surprising that after some people build a whole RV- they can't build a simple set of control locks or a lightweight towbar?

I'll take some photos of mine and post them on my 6A site.

[mandm1516]

What about something like this (first item on the page)--doesn't look like it's that hard to make?

Mike

[rv6ejguy]

This is more along the line of what I use and the same philosophy that the surface should be locked, not the control linkage back in the cockpit.

[jcoloccia]

Internal vs External locks: If it's rigged so poorly that wind can cause $8000 worth of damage in 2 years, what's it gonna do with a 200MPH wind and engine vibration when the thing's actually flying? Nevermind the thousands of aircraft with nothing but yoke locks (ala' Cessna) or a seat belt wrapped around the yoke/stick (ala Pipers and Citabrias).

Personally, my favorite is the seat belt wrapped around the stick. I don't know why RV'rs don't just do that.

[dan]

Originally Posted by jcoloccia

I don't know why RV'rs don't just do that.

We do (well, I do!). Just be sure it's off before you fly. Wish I was kidding.