Forum: F-16 Design & Construction

Hi All,
Can anyone answer the following questions on the F-16 rudder pedals
1) Can the angle of the pedal be changed, if so whats the max and min angles
2) Any idea of the force required to use the rudder pedals - does this change according to speed / AOA ?
3) What force is required to make the toe brakes actuate?

Thats it - hope someone can help clear this up for me
Thanks in advance

Loxxis

F-16.net Sponsor

Salute!

On the road, but can get specifics when home for original birds. Don't think much has changed, tho.

- Pedals can be moved way in and way out, but not change "angles". A short gal could adjust just fine, as could a 6ft 4" basketball player.

- movement was approx 1/2 inch, and max force the transducers used was a little over 100 pounds

- the rudder commands were 'direct", and didn't have strange values according to the pounds you exerted. The harder you pressed, the more rudder deflection you got

more later,

Gums...

According to my Block 30 flight control block diagram, you have to push a minimum of 15 pounds to get any rudder command, and maximum command is 110 pounds. The pedal is not supposed to move until 10 pounds have been applied, then the next 5 pounds is ignored by the computer, Once the 15 pound breakout is reached, the command is linear to the rudder. But that doesn't mean the rudder moves directly with pedal command. In a sideslip maneuver, lateral acceleration and yaw rate are fed back into the command, which greatly modifies the actual rudder movement. As yaw rate and lateral acceleration build up, the actual rudder movement is reduced. At low speeds you get low yaw rate and lateral accel, so more rudder is allowed. At high speeds, you get more yaw rate and lateral accel, so rudder is reduced. Without that capability, max rudder deflection at 600 to 800 kt, would happily remove the rudder and vertical tail from the rest of the airplane. At those conditions, max rudder deflection is about 12 degrees, compared to 30 degrees at low speeds.

The abruptness of the pedal command also has a big influence on rudder motion. With a slowly applied pedal command, the rudder more or less follows the command, but if you kick the pedal as hard as you can the rudder moves more slowly than the command, thus smoothing out the resulting sideslip. Angle of attack also influences rudder command. At higher AoA, the pedal command is washed out or even blocked before it gets to the rudder.
The rudder is also commanded to move by other functions, such as the aileron-rudder interconnect in roll maneuvers to minimize sideslip and the gun compensation function, since the offset gun will cause roll and yaw without any correction.

I've probably told you more than you wanted to know. Sorry.

Forum: F-16 Design & Construction

F-16 Rudder Pedal questions