Jet rudder technique

[DoinTime]

I've noticed an unusual phenomenon that I can't explain. Maybe I'm missing something...

Quite often, I will seat myself in the cockpit of a Canadair CRJ-200 shortly after another captain of approximately my height and leg proportions (I'm 6'0") has left. I will adjust the seat so that I can comfortably and confidently manipulate the yoke and throttles, sometimes even using the little "gunsight" on the windshield center post...only to find that the rudder pedals are cranked all the way back to my armpits.

Now my preference is to crank the pedals all the way to the stops away from me. I still have full rudder and brake authority, but my legs aren't bent at a sixty degree angle. And yet guys with legs the same length as mine are riding around with the pedals in their laps.

This is not a joke; I'm serious: is there some rule of jet rudder technique that I'm missing?

I began to wonder the same thing myself but after watching other peoples techniques I discovered that several people use a different ruder pedal/seat position for taxi than they do for flight. I've tried the technique and while access to the brakes is much easy with the pedals closer in and arm position on the tiller with the seat back further is more comfortable I just don't want to be bothered with changing my seating position prior to, or after, flight so I just use the one position that I fly in. So when you find the aircraft used by someone with this technique you are probably seeing their "taxi" position. To each their own.

 

[falcondriver]

V1 cuts are dangerous and we don't perform them in the aircraft any longer, only in the sim.
FD

 

[abev107]

So what happend to the 15 hour erj pilot that crashed? Can he continue to train at the point he was before or does he have to take some steps backward?

 

[Typhoon1244]

Typhoon 1244--the first time you lose an engine on takeoff or on climbout you will understand why most pilots keep the pedals up close--even if it means your legs are bent. I did this on every takeoff & climbout. In cruise I would slide my seat back, stretch my legs & relax.

You didn't read all of my post.

With the pedals rolled all the way forward, I still retain full rudder and brake authority. I've been doing it this way for five years, and no V1 cut (granted, in the simulator) has gotten the best of me yet.

Also--assuming the simulator is anywhere near accurate--V1 cuts in the CRJ are very gentle and do not require full rudder. In fact, I'm told by people who've done it for real that you can roll a CRJ into the good engine on climb-out using only the rudder. It's not like the Brakillya...excuse me, Brasilia, where you had to get both feet and one elbow on the opposite rudder to keep it going straight!

In one respect I am more paranoid than you, though. I don't crank my seat back at cruise if I'm the pilot flying. If we encounter, for example, severe clear air turbulence, or I need to maneuver to get a terrorist off his feet, I want the yoke, throttles, and autopilot disconnect switch easily and immediately accessible. It's the same reason I don't take my shoulder harness off, either. (I'm told my company is planning on making this policy anyway.)

But anyway, back to pedals. Y'all've answered my question. It's technique, pure and simple. I submit, however, that I'm better prepared for a V1 cut (in this airplane) if my legs are in a comfortable position regardless of how much rudder I'm using...as opposed to having my knees in my chest "just in case."

 

[tarp]

Technique and doctor's orders.

After $14,000 worth of back surgery ( and not a good back to start with), the two things the doc stressed over all is good lumbar support with the seat as upright as possible AND the "normal" sitting position should be knees above hips with the leg to never fully extend at ANY time. Ergo, the pedals stay close to my hips.

I complain just as much when I take over a plane from an 6'2" ex fighter jock where the seat is in full recline, the lumbar support is nowhere to be found and the pedals are out somewhere by the radome. I feel like I'm trying to get into a pool lounge chair.

And of course, both I (the "back problem") and Mr. Recline (the "fighter pilot") have to put up with the "high chair" where the old style CRJ handle doubles as a machete to split your head in half.

 

[njcapt]

Hey. The real question is why mechanics always have to crank the seat all the way up to full height whenever they touch the aircraft? I get in an originating A/C and I can't sit up straight without hitting my head on a switch or something - and I'm a friggin dwarf. You can't even see straight out of the windshield.

On the rudder issue, I am forced by stature to put the seat up fairly close, set the rudder pedals mostly aft, and recline the seat a little. That way I get full control and can get the yoke all the way back for the control check.