Narrative:

I was doing the test flight following owner assisted annual inspection. I orbited the airport at 3500 feet for about 10 minutes in each direction. All indications were normal; and I descended to do 5 touch-and-go landings on xxl. The full stop final landing was long and I braked fairly firmly to make the left turn off to [the] taxiway; then the left turn onto parallel taxiway. Very shortly after; the left pedal separated from the control post. I pulled power and reflexively tried to brake. With only the right brake available; the aircraft turned right off the taxiway onto the grass adjacent and came to a stop with the nose rolling slightly up a shallow embankment on the adjacent parking pad. The nose was elevated enough that the tail tie down bolt was in the grass. In the process; the frangible lens of a taxi light was broken. No damage to the plane was apparent in a quick check. An airport operations person came and coordinated a mechanic and I pushing the aircraft back onto the taxiway. We snugged the pedal into place and I taxied the plane carefully back to my parking spot a few rows away.in finishing the annual; I had removed the bolt that connects pilot's left rudder pedal to the control shaft; so as to more easily reposition the metal cover plate that surrounds the pedals. In retrospect; I must not have completely reseated the pedal tube onto the control shaft; and the bolt passed above; rather than through; that shaft. With the bolt tightened; the fit was firm enough that a test pull upward felt secure. Of course; I have learned to verify bolt positioning and will likely never allow anything similar in the future. The pedal was attached and the bolt properly placed. Checking the plane over more thoroughly afterwards; we discovered that the tail cone had been slightly bent up and was contacting the rudder. That has been fixed and logged.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Cessna 182 pilot reported the rudder pedal separated from the rudder control post during taxi.

Narrative: I was doing the test flight following owner assisted annual inspection. I orbited the airport at 3500 feet for about 10 minutes in each direction. All indications were normal; and I descended to do 5 touch-and-go landings on XXL. The full stop final landing was long and I braked fairly firmly to make the left turn off to [the] taxiway; then the left turn onto parallel taxiway. Very shortly after; the left pedal separated from the control post. I pulled power and reflexively tried to brake. With only the right brake available; the aircraft turned right off the taxiway onto the grass adjacent and came to a stop with the nose rolling slightly up a shallow embankment on the adjacent parking pad. The nose was elevated enough that the tail tie down bolt was in the grass. In the process; the frangible lens of a taxi light was broken. No damage to the plane was apparent in a quick check. An airport operations person came and coordinated a mechanic and I pushing the aircraft back onto the taxiway. We snugged the pedal into place and I taxied the plane carefully back to my parking spot a few rows away.In finishing the annual; I had removed the bolt that connects pilot's left rudder pedal to the control shaft; so as to more easily reposition the metal cover plate that surrounds the pedals. In retrospect; I must not have completely reseated the pedal tube onto the control shaft; and the bolt passed above; rather than through; that shaft. With the bolt tightened; the fit was firm enough that a test pull upward felt secure. Of course; I have learned to verify bolt positioning and will likely never allow anything similar in the future. The pedal was attached and the bolt properly placed. Checking the plane over more thoroughly afterwards; we discovered that the tail cone had been slightly bent up and was contacting the rudder. That has been fixed and logged.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.