AirGizmos Gust Lock

[tc1234c]

Has anyone tried the AirGizmos Gust Lock?

http://us.st12.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.c...2031_214548105

[kevinh]

Nope, but an alternative:

Bend a piece of 1/8" welding rod into a C shape, about 2" by 3" by 2". Use a hinge eyelet to hang a remove before flight flag. Then insert this in holes in the rudder stop and rudder horn.

I'd post a picture but I'm at work - many RV builders use this super light robust solution. Perhaps someone else has a photo handy.

[tc1234c]

Originally Posted by kevinh

Bend a piece of 1/8" welding rod into a C shape, about 2" by 3" by 2". Use a hinge eyelet to hang a remove before flight flag. Then insert this in holes in the rudder stop and rudder horn.

That was what I have. My 1/8" rod was bent last May by a strong gust. Now I am using a 3/16" rod. Since the rod holds the bottom of the rudder to the fuselage the wind gust can produce a twisting force to the rudder. My rudder trailing edge rivets were not set properly (not enough shop head). The ones on the bottom got pulled out of the skin. What I am thinking is to secure both the top and the bottom of the rudder. It might be an overkill but after a bad experience one tends to be more curious.

My rudder damage writeup.

[Ron Lee]

People have died after forgetting to remove them.

Seat belt around the stick and a PVC assembly from the front seat to the rudder pedals.

[erich weaver]

To each his own of course, but I just cant envision myself forgetting to remove the well marked gust locks, forgetting to check movement of my control surfaces, and forgetting to use my checklist all at one time - just not how I prepare to fly.

I got tired of using my seatbelt around the stick for an aileron / elevator gust lock (seat belt had to be adjusted every time I flew) and made my own exterior gust locks. I havent seen the Air Gizmos thing before, but the one I made for the elevator appears to work much the same way. From scrap, I fashioned two aluminum plates as stops for the top and bottom sides, then cut up a tie-down strap to use between the two stops - This passes through the gap between the elevator counter weight arm and the horzontal stabilizer. A buckle similar to that shown in the to an appropraite length allows you to cinch down the system to lock it in place. Some rubber gasket material glued on on the aluminum plates protects your paint. Sorry, no picture available, but if you get a buckled tie-down strap and stare at the air gizmo picture, the you should get the idea.

For the ailerons, a thumb screw with a a couple of fender washers, two rubber washers for paint protection, and a wing nut works great. Depending upon the exact gap between your wing tip and the aileron, you may have to grind down the threads a little on the thumb screw where it passes through the gap.

erich

[jgrabeklis]

I have two -- one for ailerons and one for elevators -- and really like them. Very good materials, construction, etc. I have a 7A and I don't think the air gizmos will work for the rudder except at the very top and I can't reach that. I fabricated a sturdier version of the usual RV rudder stop lock.

[Ron Lee]

Erich, that is how people die with them. They skip everything you mentioned. Can you imagine flying into a severe thunderstorm type system when the weather is clear around it? Me either yet someone did just that a few months ago at LOE.

[Mel]

Originally Posted by Ron Lee

People have died after forgetting to remove them.

Seat belt around the stick and a PVC assembly from the front seat to the rudder pedals.

People have also died on take off with the seat belt tied around the control yoke. IT CAN HAPPEN!
Some people can ignore anything.

[Flying Scotsman]

People have gotten themselves killed by not removing the *Piper* gust lock that goes in the control column right in front of them, too...

I like the looks of those gust locks, at least for aileron and elevator...and if one preflights well, uses a checklist correctly, and checks all control surface movement freedom (or any ONE of these), none of these type of accidents would ever happen, regardless of style of gust lock.

If someone is going to skip steps, do a sloppy preflight, and fail to check their control surface movement, no amount of idiot-proofing will save them from themselves.

That said...if there's a nice-looking gust lock that goes inside the cockpit, I think that'd be preferable because it would enable locking all of them in one location, rigidly, via the control rods and cables rather than on the surfaces themselves.

[erich weaver]

I think the other argument against the internal gust locks that has previoiusly been stated in other threads is that if there is any play in the linkage, there could still be some wear damage - i.e., it may not do as good a job of fixing the control surfaces in place. For me, I just like having the seatbelt perfectly adjusted when I get in the plane.

I implore you to string me up in Times Square as a complete idiot if I die because I didnt remove my gust lock.

regards

erich