How To...Build Your Cessna Type Rudder Pedals

By Kazutaka Mitsuishi (21 December 2004)

I took my private while I was in U.S., and after I came back to Japan, I would like to use the FS2004 to keep my proficiency and to prepare my future IFR training. In order to do that I felt that I needed to make my rudder pedals because the word I often heard from my flight instructor is "right rudder!" (to compensate the strong yawing tendency during various maneuvers).

The main material I used is 15mm by 15mm aluminum square pipe with the thickness of 1.5mm. I bought it at DIY shop for about $5 for 2m. I also decided to buy "hand riveter" which cost me about $50, and $3 for 100 rivets. I used it to assemble the rudder head. Other than that, no special tools are required although it is quite helpful if you have an access to the big machines.

I put lots of photos and plans, so that it is much easier to see them that reading my poor English. But I would like to give several comments on some key issues.

1. To make return force to the neutral position strong, I put the stoppers (which is indicated in plan). Without these, the two springs pull each other at neutral position and recovering force become very weak at the position close to the neutral position.

2. The pulley used is sliding door pulley. It is cheap ($1 for two!), and strong and smooth!

3. The wiring is done by 0.8mm stainless wire.

4. The electric connection to PC is made by original USB/HID interface, which consists of PIC 16F876 and USBN9603. I do not go into the detail here. You can either search the net with these key words, or look for the how to section to find other way to make the interface.

5. I roughly measure the size of the Cessna pedal (from the several photos I took), but it is not exact. If you have a free access to a Cessna, please let me know the exact dimensions.