Kit Aircraft Modifications

I came across an interesting throttle set-up installed in Scott Jackson’s RV. I didn’t see which model of RV he has but it’s a side-by-side model. It seems that there are a number of pilots out there that want this kind of arrangement because they have flown for the military.

I have always wondered what it would be like to operate the center control stick with my right hand. Having learned to fly in a Piper and then switching to Cessnas later on, I learned using my left hand on the yoke. It would be nice though to be able to control the aircraft with my dominant hand.

The more I look at Scott’s installation the more I like its simplicity. I think that I will look and see if there is room along the side of my RV-10 to install a second throttle. I will post Scott’s commentary along with some pictures.

Dave

” I’ve tried to keep it as simple as possible by making the left hand throttle connect to the center throttle right at the quadrant. This was possible by making the center-throttle lever extend below the pivot point so that it could be driven by, or drive, the left-hand throttle while the portion of it above the pivot was connected conventionally to the carburetor. Works well. Only problem to date has been a tiny bit of lost motion which I’m tracking down by bushing the pivot and clevis holes in the levers. Time will tell if the left-hand lever is too far aft-presently it’s right in line with the control stick when the stick is vertical. Since the pictures were taken, I’ve cut the left throttle lever shorter so the ex-military throttle grip almost touches the armrest.”

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 17th, 2007 at 10:15 pm and is filed under Van's Aircraft. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.