Ed,

 

I've never flown a IV, but the ES control forces are pretty heavy.  The extra length on the sticks is a good thing.  Most of us are right handed, with weaker left arms.  I have teak grips that sit up a little high above the armrests.  I like it that way.  You rest your arm on the armrest in cruise, just working the stick with your fingers.  Then, when you're needing to maneuver, your arm comes up off the armrest to hold the stick, no interference with the armrest.

 

A bunch of ES guys had the same problem with the pilot stick interfering with the door frame.  You typically don't notice it until you bond on the top.  I lengthened the vertical aileron control tubes a couple turns to tilt the sticks inward a few more degrees to solve the problem.  The bad thing about extending the vertical aileron tubes is it throws off your aileron stops on the inside wall of the fuselage.  I had to redo my stops.  I know the IV control system is different, so I'm not sure if you can do what I did on my ES.

 

I checked with Tim on whether extending those tubes would throw off the geometry of the ailerons.  Tim said it was fine to tilt the sticks inward.

 

From a practical sense, you never really deflect the stick that far anyway.

 

Mike Easley

Colorado Springs