C172 Rudder pedal issues

infotango

infotango

Line Up and Wait
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rob!
Flying a rental 172 this evening, I noticed after a few stop and goes, that the left rudder pedal would snap back to full out as soon as I took my foot of the pedal. Not an issue to make flying difficult, just a little awkward.
So even if the right rudder pedal wasn't depressed the left pedal would go up to it's fully disengaged position. Pressing the left pedal down for the first few inches of travel (until the left pedal was parallel with the right) resulted in no displacement of the actual rudder.
It's not an issue for me since I usually keep my feet on the pedal, but I'm wondering what could have caused this, and if it is indicative of any more serious problems.
 
It's a rental. Make sure the FBO is aware. Then don't fly it until it is fixed. That is my general advice for anything I don't understand -- which I don't at this point.

- Aunt Peggy
 
AuntPeggy said:
It's a rental. Make sure the FBO is aware. Then don't fly it until it is fixed. That is my general advice for anything I don't understand -- which I don't at this point.

- Aunt Peggy
Click to expand...

I agree, squawk and walk
 
I did that last night, apparently it's in the shop right now.
I'm just more curious what could cause that issue.
 
infotango said:
I did that last night, apparently it's in the shop right now.
I'm just more curious what could cause that issue.
Click to expand...
Does the 172 have a bungee cord connection between the rudder and the nosewheel steering? If it does, I'm guessing a bungee cord came loose or broke.

-Skip
 
Skip Miller said:
Does the 172 have a bungee cord connection between the rudder and the nosewheel steering? If it does, I'm guessing a bungee cord came loose or broke.

-Skip
Click to expand...

i think it is a spring but you are probably right
 
I agree with the walk-away posts. I am extremely suspicious of anything that isn't "right." I've seen cases where I thought it "wasn't much" but called the mechanic to look at one of the school planes, just in case. Sometimes it turns out to be pretty important. I never feel bad about terminating or canceling a flight [a little disappointed now and then]. There have been too many times I wish I had once I'm up in the air and need to get the plane back down in one piece...it is a fact of life for us that rental planes for training and for renting after training are mostly older machines. The high performance planes, single and twin, are particularly prone to having "little" things go wrong...so many more systems and features. Once, in a twin, the student and I kept smelling fuel in the cockpit, not much, but it didn't go away. Figured it was maybe from the fuel sampler in the back seat, from preflight. Finally, we shut down before taxiing and had a mechanic look...turned out a small fuel line behind the instrument panel providing fuel under pressure to work the fuel press. gauge had split and was spraying a fine mist of avgas. Very, very small amount, but who wants fuel mist anywhere in the cockpit, or engine compartment, or anywhere it shouldn't be. I still shudder when I think about it.
 
During the preflight check you should check the flight controls, I start with the yoke being level and check the ailerons they should be about level with the wing tips. One may droop a little more, but over in inch is probly to much. Pull back on the yoke the elevator should move smoothly up and down NO binding. The rudder pedals are the same smooth action NO binding or snapping back.

I used to rig these all the time and during the 100-hour or annual inspection it is required to check the cable tension, pulleys and movement per the manual. If for any reason a flight control feels like they are dragging DO NOT take the aircraft ground it and WRITE it up and tell some one NOT to dispatch until maintenance has cleared it for return to service.

Stache
 
No binding issues nor movement of rudder issues, on the ground the rudder surface moved fine, and the steering worked okay, although now I realize that it might have felt a little loose.

In the air the symptoms were most similar to the feeling when the nosewheel is cocked to the right while stationary on the ground.
So what was wrong?
 
The nosewheel centering pin isn't holding the nose wheel straight when the nose gear drops to full extension. If it doesn't have a nose pant on it, this may not have generated enough right turn bias so that you would have noticed the lack of the need for right rudder. If your rental has a nosewheel pant on it, forget about this comment, it would take full left rudder to keep it straight.

This failure is pretty common and needs fixing.
 
That seems to describe the symptoms very well Bruce.
It was like there was rudder trim installed in the system over to the right.

It's been fixed, apparently.
 
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