Barely reach rudder pedals

[keelstrake]

Hi,

I'm vertically challenged, especially my legs. When I am seated as
far forward as possible in my Cirrus, I'm touching the rudder pedals
with the tips of my toes, with the pedals adjusted to the full back
position.

Could people who have experience with this problem please share how
they resolved it. My thoughts are to put an extension on the pedals,
but am unsure of the best way to do that.

Thanks,

Dan

[Mal]

"keelstrake" > wrote in message
ups.com...
> Hi,
>
> I'm vertically challenged, especially my legs. When I am seated as
> far forward as possible in my Cirrus, I'm touching the rudder pedals
> with the tips of my toes, with the pedals adjusted to the full back
> position.
>
> Could people who have experience with this problem please share how
> they resolved it. My thoughts are to put an extension on the pedals,
> but am unsure of the best way to do that.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Dan

In my libelle 301 we made longer cables to give me more room maybe in a
cirrus you could shorten the cables.

Or wear high heals LOL

[[email protected]]

It is probably safer to add raising to your footwear than to try to put
blocks on the rudder pedals. I have raising on my right boot, as my
right leg is several inches shorter than the left, as part of my
standard equipment for walking, anyway. Surgical footwear, for want of
a better description, is designed for the job. A do-it-yourself
approach may be hard to engineer satisfactorily without risk of the
raising coming loose and causing problems, but with ingenuity it could
no doubt be done.

Modifying the glider would no doubt involve somebody having to approve
the modification and signing it off, and depending on the range of
movement, may make it difficult for other people, if you share it.

Chris N.

[bumper]

Depending on the pedal design, wood blocks made from plywood might be
suitable. Be sure they are fastened securely and absolutely, positively
cannot come loose.

bumper
"Mal" > wrote in message
...
>
> "keelstrake" > wrote in message
> ups.com...
>> Hi,
>>
>> I'm vertically challenged, especially my legs. When I am seated as
>> far forward as possible in my Cirrus, I'm touching the rudder pedals
>> with the tips of my toes, with the pedals adjusted to the full back
>> position.
>>
>> Could people who have experience with this problem please share how
>> they resolved it. My thoughts are to put an extension on the pedals,
>> but am unsure of the best way to do that.
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Dan
>
> In my libelle 301 we made longer cables to give me more room maybe in a
> cirrus you could shorten the cables.
>
> Or wear high heals LOL
>

[jerome]

bumper a écrit:
> Depending on the pedal design, wood blocks made from plywood might be
> suitable. Be sure they are fastened securely and absolutely, positively
> cannot come loose.

I saw some years ago in Spain a guy from Lasham, GB, who flew a Discus
with such wood blocks tied to his shoes (and a rope to get the wheel up)

[rich]

jerome wrote:
> bumper a écrit:
> > Depending on the pedal design, wood blocks made from plywood might be
> > suitable. Be sure they are fastened securely and absolutely, positively
> > cannot come loose.
>
> I saw some years ago in Spain a guy from Lasham, GB, who flew a Discus
> with such wood blocks tied to his shoes (and a rope to get the wheel up)

A fellow I knew had a short leg, and had a shoemaker glue a thick cork
sole to one shoe. A pair of slip ons with thick cork soles might work
nicely.
Rich

[Raphael Warshaw]

In certain shoe stores, they used to sell black lace-up sneakers with 3 to 4
inch soles in both mens' and womens' sizes. You might check with someone a
bit younger than me to see if they're still available. My son used them
when flying a Grob 103 and said that they worked well.

Ray Warshaw
1LK


"rich" > wrote in message
oups.com...

jerome wrote:
> bumper a écrit:
> > Depending on the pedal design, wood blocks made from plywood might be
> > suitable. Be sure they are fastened securely and absolutely, positively
> > cannot come loose.
>
> I saw some years ago in Spain a guy from Lasham, GB, who flew a Discus
> with such wood blocks tied to his shoes (and a rope to get the wheel up)

A fellow I knew had a short leg, and had a shoemaker glue a thick cork
sole to one shoe. A pair of slip ons with thick cork soles might work
nicely.
Rich

[no thank]

keelstrake > wrote:
> Hi,

> I'm vertically challenged, especially my legs. When I am seated as
> far forward as possible in my Cirrus, I'm touching the rudder pedals
> with the tips of my toes, with the pedals adjusted to the full back
> position.

> Could people who have experience with this problem please share how
> they resolved it. My thoughts are to put an extension on the pedals,
> but am unsure of the best way to do that.

In a related matter, I've noticed that in some gliders (including my 301
Libelle) I find myself putting a lot of pressure on the rudder pedals
which puts a strain on the feet. I think aircraft with larger rudder
pedals aren't nearly as straining because the force is distributed over a
wider area of the foot. I've tried putting less "common mode" pressure
on it, but I don't feel as much in control when I do that. I was thinking
of installing a wood block to better distribute the force, but I'm
concerned about the safety of that.

Does anyone have a good solution?

dan

[[email protected]]

This is a little outside my experience. My problem is cockpits not long
enough for my height. But climbing into the cockpit with unstable
footwear troubles me a little.

I wear lightweight hiking boots while flying to provide more ankle
support in case I ever have to use my parachute. Sure, it's a minuscule
chance but I know of several guys who've broken ankles after bailing
out and it's an easy enough precaution. Hitting the ground under a
parachute while wearing 4" platform shoes strikes me as asking to make
a bad situation worse.

I can see the objections to taping wood blocks to the pedals. I believe
I've seen rudder pedal extensions (in a Schweizer trainer?) consisting
of a second pedal hinged to the floor and offset behind the first pedal
by a few inches and connected to it with a pushrod. That's probably
much easier to install on the spacious, flat plywood floor of a 2-33
than in a glass singleplace cockpit. And it but it's worth thinking
about.

Chip Bearden
ASW 24 "JB"

[Vaughn Simon]

"no thank" > wrote in message
...
> I've tried putting less "common mode" pressure
> on it, but I don't feel as much in control when I do that. I was thinking
> of installing a wood block to better distribute the force, but I'm
> concerned about the safety of that.

Let me guess...you are strictly a glider pilot? That "common mode"
pressure habit I somehow aquired while exclusively flying gliders had to be lost
quickly when I started flying airplanes. Have you ever made a locked brake
landing in a Cessna? I did...once.

Seriously, your legs are strong and you can apply hundreds of pounds of
pressure that way without even thinking about it. Have you ever taken a good
look at how light some of that rudder control rigging is?

Vaughn


>
> Does anyone have a good solution?
>
> dan

[no thanks]

Vaughn Simon > wrote:

> "no thank" > wrote in message
> ...
> > I've tried putting less "common mode" pressure
> > on it, but I don't feel as much in control when I do that. I was thinking
> > of installing a wood block to better distribute the force, but I'm
> > concerned about the safety of that.

> Let me guess...you are strictly a glider pilot? That "common mode"
> pressure habit I somehow aquired while exclusively flying gliders had to be lost
> quickly when I started flying airplanes. Have you ever made a locked brake
> landing in a Cessna? I did...once.

I am exclusively a glider pilot.

> Seriously, your legs are strong and you can apply hundreds of pounds of
> pressure that way without even thinking about it. Have you ever taken a good
> look at how light some of that rudder control rigging is?

I doubt I'm applying more than 50 pounds from each foot, but spread over
an area that is perhaps 2 square inches thats a lot of pressure to be
constantly applying to your foot. I haven't looked carefully at the
assembly, but I doubt I'm stressing it more than its stressing me. Its
not a problem for 45 minutes, but on a multihour flight it gets tiring.

I think part of the issue is seating position. When I'm driving a car, I
don't brace my left foot on the "dead" pedal when not using the clutch. I
assume most planes have more upright seating than the Libelle so I may not
tend to do that as much in a powered aircraft

dan

[Bert Willing]

I apply common pressure when I'm under stress, and one good way to actively
relax in such a situation is to relax the common pressure.
I'd propose that you work on your attitude, rather on changing the rudder
pedals.

"no thanks" > wrote in message
...
> Vaughn Simon > wrote:
>
>> "no thank" > wrote in message
>> ...
>> > I've tried putting less "common mode" pressure
>> > on it, but I don't feel as much in control when I do that. I was
>> > thinking
>> > of installing a wood block to better distribute the force, but I'm
>> > concerned about the safety of that.
>
>> Let me guess...you are strictly a glider pilot? That "common mode"
>> pressure habit I somehow aquired while exclusively flying gliders had to
>> be lost
>> quickly when I started flying airplanes. Have you ever made a locked
>> brake
>> landing in a Cessna? I did...once.
>
> I am exclusively a glider pilot.
>
>> Seriously, your legs are strong and you can apply hundreds of pounds
>> of
>> pressure that way without even thinking about it. Have you ever taken a
>> good
>> look at how light some of that rudder control rigging is?
>
> I doubt I'm applying more than 50 pounds from each foot, but spread over
> an area that is perhaps 2 square inches thats a lot of pressure to be
> constantly applying to your foot. I haven't looked carefully at the
> assembly, but I doubt I'm stressing it more than its stressing me. Its
> not a problem for 45 minutes, but on a multihour flight it gets tiring.
>
> I think part of the issue is seating position. When I'm driving a car, I
> don't brace my left foot on the "dead" pedal when not using the clutch. I
> assume most planes have more upright seating than the Libelle so I may not
> tend to do that as much in a powered aircraft
>
> dan

[Nyal Williams]

I'm guessing you are tensed up while flying. a couple
of ppounds pressure on the rudder is about all you
need, and you don't need any at all except on one foot
while straightening up the yaw string.
Try just caressing the pedal with your toes and not
moving your ankles.

Are you gripping the stick also? Try holding it with
thumb and two fingers and experiment with how lightly
you can touch it and still maintain coordinated flight.
I'll bet you will become more sensitive to the glider
and to the air you are in.

Best,

NZW

At 15:24 24 May 2006, No Thanks wrote:
>
>I am exclusively a glider pilot.

>snip

>I doubt I'm applying more than 50 pounds from each
>foot, but spread over
>an area that is perhaps 2 square inches thats a lot
>of pressure to be
>constantly applying to your foot. I haven't looked
>carefully at the
>assembly, but I doubt I'm stressing it more than its
>stressing me. Its
>not a problem for 45 minutes, but on a multihour flight
>it gets tiring.
>
>I think part of the issue is seating position. When
>I'm driving a car, I
>don't brace my left foot on the 'dead' pedal when not
>using the clutch. I
>assume most planes have more upright seating than the
>Libelle so I may not
>tend to do that as much in a powered aircraft
>
>dan
>