RV-8
Flight Crew Commercial; Flight Crew Multiengine; Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Flight Instructor
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 6; Flight Crew Total 1065; Flight Crew Type 1065
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical; Ground Event / Encounter Object; Ground Excursion Runway; Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence
Aircraft Aircraft Damaged
Aircraft
[After landing] I departed [the] runway on the right side and struck a distance marker. The distance marker and the airplane were damaged. There was about 8 knots of crosswind from the right. The landing was normal until the airplane slowed to the point were the rudder was no longer effective. At that point; the airplane began to weather vane into the wind. I tried to control it with left differential braking; but was unable to. The airplane was not moving very fast at this point. The airplane departed the runway to the right and traveled about 30 feet in the mud. I called the Tower and reported the situation. They sent someone to tow me out of the mud and back to the ramp. I retrieved the airplane and attempted to determine whether there was a mechanical problem. The airplane was amateur-built by me and I have an amateur-built repairman's certificate. When I examined the rudder pedals; I determined that a bracket installed to hold the cable used to control cabin heat could interfere with the left brake pedal when the left rudder is fully deployed. The control cable was bent where it entered the bracket indicating that interference actually happened. The rudder pedals are adjustable per pilot height. I usually adjust the pedals to the maximum or 1 inch shorter. The pedals were set to maximum length for this flight. This interference only occurs when the rudder pedals are adjusted to the maximum length/height and the left rudder is fully deployed. These simultaneous conditions must not have occurred previously. The airplane is still in Phase 1 testing required for an amateur-built airplane. It currently has about 55 hours of flight test time. The bracket should/will be re-positioned to remove the potential interference and I will inspect all controls and control surfaces for interference issues.
Vans RV-8A pilot reported loss of directional control on the landing roll when left rudder travel was impeded by a cabin heat cable bracket.