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I've seen a lot of rudder pedal design, from simple welded steel tubes to more complex branded aluminum forgings.

They all seem to work equally well in my experience, and I've never found myself wishing an airplane's pedals were a different shape.

However, there must be designs which work better and designs which work worse. Considering how common and uniform flight sticks and yokes are, I'm surprised there isn't more manufacturer consensus on pedal shape. The upshot from the lack of design consensus is it's hard to design through emulation. Maybe ACA did a bang-up job with the Citabria's rudder pedals, or maybe they grabbed something easy to manufacture in the 1950s and it was grandfathered in despite glaring deficiencies.

Is there a resource which could be used to make an informed choice for rudder pedal shape, e.g. a study of rudder pedal shapes vs. performance and user comfort?

P.S. For info, What are specified rudder pedal forces? gives some data for the forces they should be able to take.

Kenn Sebesta
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  • Are you talking about the rudder pedal or foot rests? Many large transports have separate foot rests since they are flown on autopilot most of the time. – user71659 Aug 02 '23 at 15:47
  • @user71659 I had it in my mind somehow that "foot rest" that was the official name, but seeing your post I see where that is likely incorrect. I've clarified the question to make it clear I'm asking about the pedals in normal small GA craft. – Kenn Sebesta Aug 02 '23 at 18:58
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    @KennSebesta Much clearer now, thanks! – Ralph J Aug 03 '23 at 02:57
  • A couple of observations-- one, it's not surprising that manufacturers would end up making different choices in optimizing the shape of the rudder pedals in aircraft where each rudder pedal also activates the wheel brake on that side (eg your second embedded link), than in aircraft where the rudder pedals have no braking function (eg your first embedded link). To control the rudder and brake independently, each pedal must have two degrees of freedom of motion, not one. And two, the amount of physical space available in the nose of that sailplane (in your first embedded link) is very limited! – quiet flyer Aug 05 '23 at 12:51
  • PS perhaps I'm making an incorrect assumption in thinking the Citabria in your second embedded link has toe brakes (activated by the pedals) rather than heel brakes (activated by something on the floor). It's hard to tell from the photo. Here's some interesting reading that pertains somewhat to why rudder pedal shape might be important: https://backcountrypilot.org/forum/do-shoes-matter-25495?start=40 – quiet flyer Aug 05 '23 at 13:04
  • @quietflyer almost all Citabrias have toe brakes. The heel brakes, from what I remember, where discontinued early on in the production run. – Kenn Sebesta Aug 05 '23 at 15:35

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