Foot rest

[Al Downs]

It seems the thread on foot rests died so I made a foot rest. If you would like one let me know. As you can see in the pictures there are a couple of improvements to make it stronger. The left side actually sits against the heat diffuser to help prevent bending by heavy feet. All aluminum and it weight 2.3 pounds. The one pictured is for the right side but if you wanted it for the left side, just let me know (it is a litlte different). It will arrive fully assembled and ready to place in the plane.

 

$160 plus shipping. 

 

PM me to order

[Anticept]

It's not permanently part of the plane so there's no legal issues. It's still PIC responsibility to ensure it won't interfere with flight.

[Anticept]

Best judgement. They shouldn't if made right.

[Roger Lee]

The originals could not interfer with the pedals.

[FlyingMonkey]

Designed correctly there is no way for such a rest to interfere. The above design looks good. I'm working on one now myself for the pilot side, I have one of the originals for my passenger side. The only potential issue is quick access to the rudder pedals, but that would not be a problem in avoiding a bird, plane, or other hazard. These are really for use in level cruise flight only (on pilot side, anyway), where rudder use is not required.

[Ed Cesnalis]

I would  suggest leaving the controls accessible in case of emergency.  A maximum performance minimum radius turn cannot be performed at cruise without rudder input.

 

What if you loose flaperon control due to a mid-air?  Might need that rudder right quick just to maintain control. 

 

You can rest your feet on the pedals.

[Roger Lee]

Hi Ed,

 

The foot rest can be kicked up or down with your foot to block the pedals or allow access.

[Doug G.]

What if you loose flaperon control due to a mid-air?  Might need that rudder right quick just to maintain control.

Has this ever happened and with the plane being saved by rudder? I'm thinking - what if a satellite breaks up hits a plane above you and its black box goes through your right wing and....

[Ed Cesnalis]

Hi Ed,

 

The foot rest can be kicked up or down with your foot to block the pedals or allow access.

 

On occasion, mid-airs are avoided in a fraction of a second.  It happened to me and a golden eagle one day, we got away with a soft glancing blow. There was no time to re-configure.

[Duane Jefts]

Perhaps if your plane didn't look like a delicious tweety bird - the golden eagle's would keep their distance.

 

 

On occasion, mid-airs are avoided in a fraction of a second.  It happened to me and a golden eagle one day, we got away with a soft glancing blow. There was no time to re-configure

[Ed Cesnalis]

Birds are deadly, turkey vultures top the list.  When a collision is imminent the bird is expected to dive and the best reaction is to climb.  A little practice and it become the natural reaction.   When it happens you initiate that climb as rapidly and as steeply as you can. Your not worried about establishing a climb that you can sustain.

 

You pull back as abruptly as you can without stalling and there you are, on the edge of a stall and you  can't reach  the rudder pedals. 

 

Edit:

 

Its a good  thing that its easy to regain access because things get way harder to do when you are in an inadvertent spin.

[Doug G.]

Point taken. I have a footrest, but I only use it on the passenger side and teach them on how to move it out of the way.

[Mike Koerner]

Kcarab,

The reason CTs need a passenger foot rest is because: 1) the seat pan is low to the floor; 2) the floor slopes down toward the front; and 3) there's not enough room for feet off to the sides of the rudder petals.

If you put your fleet flat on the floor just in front of the seat, like you would in a 172, your knees would be up in the air and bent at an uncomfortable angle. So instead both the pilot and passenger generally stretch their legs out in front of themselves - toward the petals. The sloped floor means that gravity tends to pull them out the rest of the way.

That means that both pair of feet end up on pedals.

Most pilots don't like having passenger input on the controls. It's not unsafe - if you push hard the petals will push the passenger's feet out of the way (unless he actively resists). It's just a bit unpleasant to be feeling something other than the airplane under your feet.

To be sure, the passenger can flex his knees a little to hold them off the petals. That works fine for a flight of a couple hours. But much beyond that, holding your feet off the petals becomes a pain. Especially for tall or long-legged people.

Over the years I have tried a number of passenger foot rests including two sets of PVC pipe barriers, both of which broke when passengers pushed against them hard, either while getting in or while adjusting their butt position in flight.

I also made a wood block the sticks up 1/2 inch off the floor just in front of the petals so that the passenger's heals can rest against the wood and not slide down onto the pedals. I thought this was a good solution, but apparently my passenger on a trip to New York last summer did not. By the time we made the turn to come home he had bought a couple of shelving angle brackets at Home Depot and screwed them down to my wood plate to provide a more substantial footrest.

The folding mechanism depicted above, and used by several forum members, seems like a significant improvement. It provides a substantial foot rest to increase passenger comfort and it folds out of the way so the passenger can fly occasionally.

Mike Koerner

[FlyingMonkey]

The footrest can be moved in less than a second.  There is no safety of flight issue here.

 

Fly a four hour leg in the CT and it's just damned uncomfortable with nowhere to put your feet other than on the pedals.

[Ed Cesnalis]

The footrest can be moved in less than a second.  There is no safety of flight issue here.

 

Fly a four hour leg in the CT and it's just damned uncomfortable with nowhere to put your feet other than on the pedals.

 

in an emergency reaction begins after seconds of reaction time.  in an emergency, perhaps inverted or spinning you can gain access in under a second, using your feet?  color  me skeptical.

 

Ever had  an emergency?

[FlyingMonkey]

in an emergency reaction begins after seconds of reaction time.  in an emergency, perhaps inverted or spinning you can gain access in under a second, using your feet?  color  me skeptical.

 

Ever had  an emergency?

I used to be a police officer. I've had my share of immediate emergency situations. I am confident in my ability to not snap my airplane into a spin in cruise flight. I've had to react quickly to avoid birds and airplanes, and never jerked the stick so hard the airplane broke into a stall/spin. It only takes small movements to move the airplane a lot at cruise speed. In fact, in cruise you could move the controls to the stops and not stall the airplane, since you are well above Va. The airplane will over-g before it stalls.

 

If you are scared of the foot rest, don't use one.

[Ed Cesnalis]

I am not afraid of a foot rest any more than I am afraid of a gun, its just an object.  Loose objects falling into the rudder pedals in flight is a big enough concern, I'm not going to put something there.

 

From a safety point of view this is just a bad/dumb idea and I respond because of the idea spreading to others.

 

You have the meaning of Va backwards. Above Va the airplane will stall (instead of bend) as opposed to your statement saying it will 'over-g'.  Over-g'ing risks damaging the airframe and that is what Va is used for You want to slow to Va when you use it, not exceed it for stall protection.

 

Police emergencies don't qualify, have you ever been in one when PIC?  Where you told yourself its likely time to die?  Once you are you will cease to block your controls.

[Ed Cesnalis]

Fast Eddie, we  need you

[Ed Cesnalis]

Andy,

 

Without your feet on the pedals you cannot know you won't snap it in a collision avoidance reaction.

[Tom Baker]

.

You have the meaning of Va backwards. Above Va the airplane will stall (instead of bend) as opposed to your statement saying it will 'over-g'.  Over-g'ing risks damaging the airframe and that is what Va is used for You want to slow to Va when you use it, not exceed it for stall protection.

 

This time you have it backwards. Below Va you can apply full control input to the stops and the airplane will stall before any damage is done structurally. Above Va the same control input can cause structural damage before the airplane will stall. this is the reason you slow the airplane down in rough air instead of going faster. The AOI for the CTLS even goes far enough to issue a warning saying that above Va control inputs should be limited to 1/3 of their maximum deflection.

[Ed Cesnalis]

backwards depends on what side of Va you are on, at high altitude Va is cruise speed and at that stall happens first.  Above Va is a tricky thing for stall protection because as  you cruise weight diminishes and Va goes up.

 

 

           The AOI for the CTLS even goes far enough to issue a warning saying that above Va control inputs should be limited to 1/3 of their maximum deflection.

 

Ok then you cruise fast and change the risk from stall to structural damage, how is that a good thing?

[Tom Baker]

I will say without seeing the design of the foot rest up close and seeing how it interacts with the airplane I don't if I would use one. I added carpet to my airplane, and it seems to help with the foot sliding issue. Personally I don't think I will add a foot rest, because it doesn't fit my primary mission with the airplane.

[Roger Lee]

The original foot rest in no way interfered with the aircraft and could instantly be used or collapsed. It can be completely removed from its position in a matter of seconds? If you have never seen or used it it would be hard to comment.

There are videos of it on our forum. There were about 3 dozen sold. It's the best foot rest design I have seen in a C T.

[Tom Baker]

backwards depends on what side of Va you are on, at high altitude Va is cruise speed and at that stall happens first.  Above Va is a tricky thing for stall protection because as  you cruise weight diminishes and Va goes up.

 

 

           The AOI for the CTLS even goes far enough to issue a warning saying that above Va control inputs should be limited to 1/3 of their maximum deflection.

 

Ok then you cruise fast and change the risk from stall to structural damage, how is that a good thing?

 

You can try and spin what you said anyway you want. V stands for velocity. I think most people will agree that a number that is greater than Va is above and a number that is less than Va is below. I have never seen it expressed in a aviation text any other way.

[FlyingMonkey]

Thanks Tom and Roger.

 

At my cruise speeds of 110+ knots, if I fully deflect the controls I will have significantly exceeded the aircraft's 4g structural limit, and still not be in a stall.  I don't cruise at 14,000ft where it's possible for my WOT indicated airspeed to be less than Va.

 

CT, I'm sorry my experiences "don't count", but yeah I have been in the "well I guess this is it" mindset several times.  I'm not sure it's different just because you are sitting in an airplane.  Those experiences are not going to make me an overly-fearful basket case.  How do you deal with the autopilot?  It might take you a second or so to click it off or power through it and shear the pins in an emergency, but I don't hear you telling people using one is just dumb...