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Can't Reach the Rudder Pedals

PJudd

I'm New Here
My flying buddy purchased a RV-6 that he's offered me to use. I've got about 10 hours in it and was having trouble dialing in proper use of the rudder on take offs and landings.

Turns out the plane was built by a guy over 6' tall and I'm 5'9". I'm having to stretch to reach the bottom bar which is causing control input problems (over correcting, etc.) I tried a pad to move myself forward but it puts the stick too close to my stomach.

Anyone heard of an adapter of some sort to attach to kick the bottom bar out? We looked at it for a good while and it looks like I need a full 3" of extension.

Perry Judd
Shell Beach, CA
 
hinge pin

There should be a 3 hinge pin adjustment on the floor at the bottom of the seat back to move the seat back forward. It should bring it forward about 3". If that's not enough you can use a cushon.
 
Move pedals

Perry

Firstly how's the setup for the new owner? You can move the pedals aft. It depends if the original builder allowed for this. On mine when I built it I put extra holes in. So it's worth checking to start with. if there aren't holes you can move the pedals back and drill new ones, however it will also depend upon how long the centre bracket is as to how far back you can come. If it's been shortened you might have to fit a new longer one.
Then the rudder cable to pedal attach bars need to be shortened to bring the bottom of the rudders back.
Another option is a pedal extension see www.jdairparts.com but this will only give you about an inch.

Cheers

Peter
 
I'm only 5' 5" and I have some troubles reaching the rudder pedals too. I may eventually move them, but in the meantime a cushion works for me. Besides using a cushion, you can also move the bottom of the seat back forward. At least you can on my 6. There are 3 sets of hinges and most people have the seat back attached the aft most hinge. That may cause further stick interference though if a pad is already a problem.

One thing I noticed that was just like moving the pedals aft was to wear a pair of Sketchers. Doc Martins would work too. The Sketchers I have are casual shoes with a really thick polymer sole. I got in the plane wearing Sketchers one day and wondered why I had ever thought the rudder pedals were too far away. I only realized later that it was the thick soles making the difference.
 
For my transition training, I glued several layers of cardboard to the bottom of some old shoes. It gave me and extra 1.5 to better reach the pedals.

Vince
RV-7
 
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