A few days ago I finally got around to going flying after 5 weeks and something just didn’t feel right on my rudder. The previous flight was 6-7 hours and nothing was done in the time between flights. I’m hoping that someone on here might have some insight.

Preflight flight control check was smooth and felt normal.

Once airborne I noticed that rudder pedals just felt "off" from a pressure required standpoint. One was very light to the touch and very responsive. The other was stiff. I'd apply pressure and then it would give and then be somewhat light. It was almost like taxing a taildragger: you had to take out whatever you put in. Otherwise it would stay. It wasn't self centering, if you want to put it that way. A post flight control check seemed normal.

My mechanic happened to be at the hangar when I got back and I talked to him about it. I said that other Cessnas have springs on the pedals, but wasn't sure if the 205 has them. I spent some time in the maintenance and parts manuals and talked to other 205 owners and confirmed that it doesn’t have springs. A bungee is referenced but that is only for steering on the ground. In talking to another owner, he suggested checking for anything that might be binding the controls and making sure that they are well lubricated. So today I’m going to go up, put it on it’s tail, and actuate the controls to make sure everything is moving smoothly and correctly. I’m also going to lubricate the applicable points.

Anyone have any similar experiences with something like this and know a remedy?

Thanks!

So today I’m going to go up, put it on it’s tail, and actuate the controls to make sure everything is moving smoothly and correctly.

Hopefully, that means go up to the hangar and unload the nose gear to check its operation and not go do vertical stalls!

No direct experience with that condition on 205’s, but my A&P-spidey sense says eyeball the linkage and springs.

Yeah. I’m planning on checking all the linkage. No springs in this system is what I am hearing and gather from looking at the maintenance manual.


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Sounds like what happened to my 172 several years ago. The steering has to linkages that have a spring inside them, one of the springs came loose inside the tube.

I think Dale is on the right track, but also check the bungee. It's for more then just nose steering, it's part of the rudder trim system. I've seen them needing rerigging and act similar to this. In one extreme case the plane needed almost full ridder to fly straight. Took the rudder trim system apart, lubricated and inspected properly, and re rigged it on install. Flew good again.

Pretty sure I’ve found the issue. The nose wheel isn’t locking forward when the strut extends. So essentially I’ve got another large surface turning in the airflow around the plane. When the strut extends two brass fittings are supposed to center it and keep it from moving. So either the brass fitting has cracked and “jumping” the roll pin that’s supposed to keep it in place or the roll pin has sheared...but that seems unlikely. We will be pulling it Friday to see what is going on.