REFLECTOR: toe brake question

LAURA WALKER blwalker105 at sbcglobal.net
Sun Dec 14 13:01:02 CST 2008


Andy,

I also wanted leave the pivot off, to be able to deploy both rudders simultaneosly as a sort of speed brake system. I even dreamed up an idea to do achieve the same effect but have the best of both worlds. I wanted to fabricate an inner and outer sliding rod assembly for one side of the brake pushrods. I would drill holes through both rods and index a locating pin attached to a cable on the keel or the panel. When properly rigged, and the pin going through both rods, the pivot would function normally. When the pin was retracted, it would allow the outer rod to slide freely over the inner one effectively disabling or bypassing the pivot, allowing both rudders to be deployed simultaneously. I talked to Velocity, and they said, "yeah, you could do that, but at high speed, you'll never be able to get the rudders out because air pressure above 170 kts is hard to overcome and the danger of landing with a locked brake may be exaggerated with that kind of
 system". Good points, and I figured the extra hundred or so hours I would have in designing this system may have been better spent learning to fly the plane better. Oh well, in the end I nixed the idea. All the custom stuff I did that looked easy on paper took endless hours of fiddling and detailing and I really wanted to start flying my plane. 

I still think the idea has merit but just couldn't justify the time. 

Bill Walker



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