HulaGirl received a Christmas gift; new custom
rudder pedals made by Control Approach. I first heard of the
pedals from the maker Paul Grimstad whom I met on a camping fly out with other RVrs. And I saw them in a post, Danny King installed them on Beautiful Doll. The two ladies must have been talking 'cause I didn't even know my girl had them on her Dear Santa letter.
Sunday night I researched a little to get an idea what to expect from different
pedals. I found this thread most helpful.
http://www.vansairforce.com/communit...+rudder+pedals. I never flew with stock
pedals, always had the extensions pioneered by Randy Lervold
http://www.romeolima.com/RV8/IdeasProducts.htm.
With Monday my first free day in a while to spend in the hangar, I went right to work installing them.
First impressions;
Look fantastic with a grippy black finish. More grip than a wing walk, more like a perma-grit block.
Light, took off half a pound compared to my stock
pedals with extensions.
Great welding. Nice lightning holes.
Much more curve and shape, like a lady's...
Comparison;
The side panels are welded to the back side by Paul, stock are on the front. Fat shoes won't get stuck between the side plates any more.
The more pronounced curve creates positive shoe contact points at the brake and no brake pedal points.
No right or left, the needed master cylinder attach hole drilling creates them.
Half pound lighter. Added ten knots.
Install;
Removed old
pedals via ducking under instrument panel.
Final drilled hinge point holes to match your hardware. Be sure to check left and right sizes.
Matched drilled master cylinder hole on new using old left pedal as guide, thus creating a right. Then used new right to match drill new left.
Installed using same hardware.
One hour labor plus three hours answering to every airport bum what I was doing and why.
Taxi and flight test;
Heals on the floor with my size 12 kicks, my toes rest on the lower "no brake" pedal section.
Slide up to toes on brakes and found it is very easy to feel the no brake push point with the arch of my foot.
Taxied to run-up, testing brakes and steering. No brake dragging. Spun 360s which took a little effort to learn the new foot position and feel.
Take-off, I liked the feel of just the toes flexing and doing the work rather than the large pads of my foot with ankle rotation pushing the old lower extensions. Probably more like stock without the extensions.
Cruise, credit to Danny in above mentioned thread; slid big feet under
pedals for the first time ever. My long legs loved stretching out! Thanks Danny! Never thought about that.
Landing, "heals on floor, toes making small but quick inputs" says Mr. Seager singing in my ear. After three stop and goes I am liking the new sexy
pedals over the old clunkers. Thanks Paul!
Custom Rudder Pedals
Linear Mode
