N546RV
Well Known Member
OK, I've seen at least one other case where someone did this, but the thing that got me thinking about it was watching some Stu's Aircraft Factory vids on Youtube this past weekend, where he's added a slight relief at the bottom center of his panel.
The way I have my panel laid out, specifically how I'm pushing everything as high as possible up towards my sightline, I'll have probably 1.5" of empty space all along the bottom of the panel. I'm considering adding a relief in this area, as depicted in the attached images. Obviously I'd need to rivet some pieces of angle to retain the stiffness normally provided by the lower flange, but that should be straightforward.
My main motivation here is that I'm a tall dude with long legs, and I figure this may make it a little less awkward getting in/out of the aircraft. It should also provide better access to my fuse blocks, which will be on a hinged shelf behind the panel that can pivot down into view. Finally, I can maybe make the stick a little longer, though the upper aft brace might still be an issue (not sure if the stick will go that far forward once all the control travels are set up).
The only reason I can think of to not do this (besides the generic "it's extra work" thing) is that if I want/need to add switches down the road, that panel real estate could be a good place. Any other cons I'm not thinking of?
The way I have my panel laid out, specifically how I'm pushing everything as high as possible up towards my sightline, I'll have probably 1.5" of empty space all along the bottom of the panel. I'm considering adding a relief in this area, as depicted in the attached images. Obviously I'd need to rivet some pieces of angle to retain the stiffness normally provided by the lower flange, but that should be straightforward.
My main motivation here is that I'm a tall dude with long legs, and I figure this may make it a little less awkward getting in/out of the aircraft. It should also provide better access to my fuse blocks, which will be on a hinged shelf behind the panel that can pivot down into view. Finally, I can maybe make the stick a little longer, though the upper aft brace might still be an issue (not sure if the stick will go that far forward once all the control travels are set up).
The only reason I can think of to not do this (besides the generic "it's extra work" thing) is that if I want/need to add switches down the road, that panel real estate could be a good place. Any other cons I'm not thinking of?