After being inspired by a friends Schweitzer (helicopter) control stick I decided to design and fab new control sticks that would keep the grip in the same location as the stock grip but have absolutely no contact with the seat in aft positions. After finally talking a local tube bending machine shop into taking a crack at it (without a minimum order of a 100 sticks) here's what I came up with. Our new grips were a few inches taller than the generic stock grips so I was able to modify them to have the stick enter through the front instead of the bottom thus lowering the grip an inch without lowering the stick. Shot it with an etching primer and an auto urethane to match the plane powder-coat.
Well, I'm 6'4" and have a really hard time getting in and out with either stick. So, also inspired by my friends Schweitzer we will make the sticks removable. Instead of an AN3 bolt holding them in place, there will be a quick release ball lock pin. here- http://www.carrlane.com/Catalog/inde...1A3C3B28535640
And the wires will be connectect with a military quick release Cannon plug. here- http://www.ittcannon.com/product.aspx?id=1102
This is how my friends certified Helicopter has them done and it seems to work extremely well. It's so easy to get out of the plane with the stick not in it.
Nice work Chris! You'd better get ready for the requests from other builders and be thinking about whether you'd like to build more and if so how much you'd charge. I've seen this sort of things start up all the time over in the RV world.
New Control stick
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Re: New Control stick
