Gust Lock / Control-Surface Lock

[JNDZ]

Hello, everyone, I know that we each have our own way of locking the yoke. But I wanted to share my version of a gust lock that I put together for my '65 M20C. Pictures below, parts as follow:

(2X) RAM RAP-B-200-1U - Single socket arm; (1X) RAM-B-121BU - Yoke Clamp Base with B-Size 1-Inch Ball; (2X) RAP-276U - PVC Pipe Socket with Composite Octagon Button; (1X) RAP-PP-1112 - RAM 12" Long PVC Pipe; (1X) RAP-B-400U - RAM Tough-Claw Small Clamp Base with Ball. Totaling around $93.00. 

Once attached it's rock solid, the aileron and yoke stay in place. The only thing to note is that I used permanent adhesive to join the pipe sockets to the PVC pipe.

[carusoam]

That sure looks solid, JNDZ...

 

Best regards,

-a-

[EricJ]

That's pretty clever!   Thanks for sharing that.

 

[Skates97]

Very creative, I like it. I use two bungees from the yoke to the rudder pedals on the rh side and one wrapped around the inside handles on the yokes. 

[Jim Peace]

Bungee cord wrapped from one yoke to the other......easy peasy.....

when they are placed like this the elevator will not move up and down either....

[ArtVandelay]

I use a piece of scrap 1/4” rope and tie the yokes together like above. Same rope is useful for securing pieces of luggage.

I secure using seat belt as well for elevator protection, although with the bungees that probably isn’t necessary.

Rudder doesn’t need to be secured since it’s connected to the front wheel.

[Ibra]

Nice that looks certified for 30G60 kts 

Edited September 8, 2020 by Ibra

[outermarker]

Nice gust lock JNDZ, I'll have to make one. I made one just before leaving for OSH a few years back. I made it so it can lock the ailerons or all the controls. I made it so it would fit in an old bag chair bag. Improvements would be to make the lengths the same that capture the seat. I would also make the main length two different size diameters so it can be sleeved and pinned. This would allow a finer adjustment and make the system more compact. The photos explain everything.

 

[Hank]

I just use a flat bungee and wrap the two center handgrips together. When the tornado hit Sun n Fun, I had put a second bungee on as "insurance." The pictures are in my old digital camera . . . . . Maybe the bungees came from Tractor Supply?

[Nico1]

I just use seatbelts... pilot side on left side of yoke, passenger on right side.  Wondering if there are any cons to doing that now?

[65MooneyPilot]

I am a seatbelt guy myself also. 

[Hank]

25 minutes ago, Nico1 said:

I just use seatbelts... pilot side on left side of yoke, passenger on right side.  Wondering if there are any cons to doing that now?

It's just difficult for me to pull the belts out and wrap around the yoke. The bungee is easy.

[Skates97]

1 hour ago, Hank said:

It's just difficult for me to pull the belts out and wrap around the yoke. The bungee is easy.

I do the same, I have two bungee cords, reach in and run one from each rudder pedal on the right side to the bottom of the right yoke.

[Fly Boomer]

2 hours ago, Skates97 said:

I do the same, I have two bungee cords, reach in and run one from each rudder pedal on the right side to the bottom of the right yoke.

Left rudder to left horn of the yoke, and right rudder to the right horn?

[M20F]

Aviators never cease to amaze.  

[Skates97]

3 hours ago, Fly Boomer said:

Left rudder to left horn of the yoke, and right rudder to the right horn?

Just to the bottom of the crossbar of the yoke.

[A64Pilot]

I rarely use a control lock, but when I do I lock the controls themselves, not tie the inside controls. I rarely travel and that would be the only time she sits outside.

I do this after having seen aircraft with damaged control tubes etc from excessive winds, now to be fair we are talking serious winds, the kind to where if your not tied down well you may lose the aircraft. I’ve also seen on crop dusters that use the stick lock in off season and in windy places like Oklahoma that the near constant wiggling of the ailerons to cause wear in the heim joints. Ailerons on a thrush are about as big as our horizontals and nothing centers them, they are free to flip around in a light breeze as is the rudder, so we ship with external control locks, the stick lock is meant for times like a lunch break, it’s a spring loaded V that fits into the hole on the stick, takes seconds to raise it and drop it in place.

These, you need three to do elevator, ailerons and rudder, you could argue four one for each aileron, but I just use the three.

https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/pnpages/13-06139.php

I’ve posted this before and of course most argue because they are conditioned I guess to locking the yoke, but not much is easier and takes up less room than the Airgizmo locks.

 

[PT20J]

External locks really are the best. The knock against them is that they are easier to overlook. There have been accidents.

The DC-3 came with external locks and Douglas was thoughtful enough to put a little locker in the tail to store them. One of my FO duties was to confirm that the locks were removed and stowed and the gear pins were removed and on board. 

Skip
 

 

[Hank]

19 hours ago, A64Pilot said:

 of course most argue because they are conditioned I guess to locking the yoke, but not much is easier and takes up less room than the Airgizmo locks.

 

15 hours ago, PT20J said:

External locks really are the best. The knock against them is that they are easier to overlook. There have been accidents.

I use internal gust locks not because my 62 hours in Cessnas "conditioned" me to them before I bought my Mooney  but because my Mooney Owners Manual says to lock the ailerons and rudder elevator with the seatbelts. This is very awkward for me to employ, and I find bungee between the two yokes to be fast and easy to put on and takeoff, impossible to forget, and they require almost no space to store on the hat rack.

[Fly Boomer]

9 hours ago, Hank said:

my Mooney Owners Manual says to lock the ailerons and rudder with the seatbelts

Are the seatbelts long enough to reach the rudder pedals?

[Hank]

4 hours ago, Fly Boomer said:

Are the seatbelts long enough to reach the rudder pedals?

I mistyped, should have been "ailerons and elevator."

[A64Pilot]

23 hours ago, PT20J said:

External locks really are the best. The knock against them is that they are easier to overlook. There have been accidents.

The DC-3 came with external locks and Douglas was thoughtful enough to put a little locker in the tail to store them. One of my FO duties was to confirm that the locks were removed and stowed and the gear pins were removed and on board. 

Skip
 

 

Good friend that sadly died in an SR-22 crash showed up one day at Americus Ga airport in his Thrush with the left wingtip damaged and grass sticking out of the wheel between the tire and wheel. I asked what happened and he started cussing his loader that had left the aileron gust lock on.

He took off with the ailerons locked flew a pattern turning with the rudder but ground looped it on landing, to keep wings level meant he wasn’t lined up due to a cross wind.

Final test flight of the turbine Caribou, gust locks, these were internal as inside of the cockpit.

Boeing actually lost the fly off for the B-17, the test pilots crashed the prototype during the fly off by not removing the gust locks (internal also I believe) but Congress apparently knew it was the superior aircraft and illegally ordered the Boeing also along with the Douglas

https://mynorthwest.com/1166154/flying-fortress-forgotten-b-17-crash/

 

[Kelpro999]

59 minutes ago, A64Pilot said:

He took off with the ailerons locked

Free and correct comes to mind 

[A64Pilot]

9 hours ago, Kelpro999 said:

Free and correct comes to mind 

Yes, and Ed was a very experienced pilot, flying eight to ten hours pretty much every day. I guess that day he didn’t check, what added to it is you taxi a Thrush hands off of the stick, because to unlock the tailwheel requires full forward stick, so you don’t usually touch the stick until lined up for takeoff.

Maule has an AD, seems someone during the Annual swapped the elevator cables, the pilot on the post Annual test flight wanted to show off the Maules short take-off, steep climb and on pulled back hard on the elevator, being backwards this put the aircraft over on its back.

FAA fix was you had to paint one cable end red.

Yes correct especially after maintenance is very important. I doubt you could rig a Mooney backwards though, you can’t a Thrush which is also except for rudder push pull tubes.

https://generalaviationnews.com/2022/07/11/plane-crashes-after-mechanic-incorrectly-rigs-aileron-control-cables/

[Kelpro999]

3 hours ago, A64Pilot said:

Yes, and Ed was a very experienced pilot, flying eight to ten hours pretty much every day

 Sometimes when tasks are repetitive the feeling of having done it are a little too fresh. I’ve done it more times than I’ll admit, I’m sorry it took your friend