Left or right Stick Handling?

[esp803]

For the vast majority of my career I have handled the stick with my left hand, I did about 600 hours with my other hand and it always felt like a drunk stranger. Anybody else have trouble switching hands after becoming quite proficient with one hand?

[Flying Nutcracker]

We are talking flying here, right?!?

[akoch]

That's why once I switched to the right seat it started to feel right pretty much right away! Muscle memory they say.

[CanadianEh]

We are talking flying here, right?!?

This made my day

[AirFrame]

Do you mean a real stick, or a yoke? Because I find them to be quite different. I started out flying a Fleet Canuck from the right seat with my father as a child. Most other rides I had were with other flying friends who had two-place antiques or homebuilts, that put me in the right seat or in the rear seat (in a tandem) and that meant I was always flying with my right hand on a stick, left on a throttle.

Later, when I learned to fly (and after I learned to drive) I moved to the left seat of a Cessna, where I had a yoke. It was different, but felt mostly normal because I was driving with a wheel in my left hand in my car.

Fast forward to today, when I own a side-by-side RV, and *still* don't feel 100% comfortable with a stick in my left hand. It's just wrong somehow. But I'm slowly getting use to it.

[ahramin]

I've never found any difference, perhaps because I went from right hand in gliders to left hand in 150s to right hand in the RV to left hand in the tailwind ...

I would suggest if you're having trouble with a particular configuration, go out and fly that configuration more often, trying not to think about it too much. Just go fly.

Although I do remember an "I learned about flying from that" article where a 100 hour Cessna pilot almost killed himself in a low level stall when he switched seats to let a buddy sit in the left seat, got slow enough on final to scare himself and cut the power by mistake as part of the recovery because it was backwards. I'm not sure how he normally would do a stall recovery but what I gathered from the article was that if you have that much coordination trouble you should stick to something with more benign consequences, perhaps golf.

[Panama Jack]

I am not sure if you mean a stick between your legs, as in a traditional tailwheel or glider (the rest of you get your minds out of the gutter, but for the rest I have adjusted well between right and left handling of the controls; beit control wheel, Embraer control horn, even Airbus sidestick. Not sure howholding the broomstick between the legs with the left hand would work, but why would I want to?

[ahramin]

Because the throttle is on the right side Panama .

[iflyforpie]

Never really had a problem with it. Yoke in left or right hand is fine. I've never flown with a stick in my left but I think it would feel less natural.

I wonder if anybody sets up the RV-6/7 to fly from the right seat because of that? The Aermacchi SF.260 is set up that way. I know you can do dual throttles but it adds expense and you still have to switch to do anything in the center.

[Cat Driver]

The left hand stick should also control throttle.

[Panama Jack]

Because the throttle is on the right side Panama .

Never flown one like that before.

[AirFrame]

I wonder if anybody sets up the RV-6/7 to fly from the right seat because of that? The Aermacchi SF.260 is set up that way. I know you can do dual throttles but it adds expense and you still have to switch to do anything in the center.

There are dozens of side-by-side RV's with configurations to put a stick in your right hand, and throttle in the left. Some just put the throttle on the left side of the panel, so the passenger doesn't get a throttle. Some have dual throttles. Some have the right seat set up for PIC.

I find that my general flying around is just as easy either way. But when I need precision, such as when doing aerobatics or formation, I can still see the difference. The first time I flew formation from the left seat in a side-by-side RV, I couldn't hold position at all... Formation is all about small corrections that become almost muscle-memory, and I learned it flying right-hand-stick left-hand-throttle. First time left seat in the RV, if I wanted to climb, i'd pull back slightly on the throttle. If I wanted to move forward i'd push on the stick. The response was effectively 90 degrees out of phase from what I was expecting (*).

(*) In case this makes no sense to someone, what I mean is: In normal cruise flight, if you want to climb, you add power,and if you want to speed up, you reduce pitch (trim nose down). In formation, you really don't want to change your power setting or pitch at all once you're set up stable with lead. So if you need to climb up a foot or so, you pull back on the stick briefly. And if you want to move forward in position relative to lead, you add power briefly. Each input is very brief, and returns to its starting point, so you only making short-period changes to your pitch or power setting, and don't really affect your nominal cruise power or pitch.

[ahramin]

The Tandem RVs have the stick between the legs and throttles in the middle, as does the BD-4.

[oldtimer]

Years ago when I was instructing, I had some students that were either heavy equipment operators, or in some cases farmers, and they always had a problem with the throttles. To reduce power, they would push the throttle in or vice versa because that was the way one did it with many tractors or crawler tractors. I had no propblem at all switching from a Super Cub to a Fleet Canuck or a Luscombe but it still feels uncomfortable to fly from the right seat unless I hold the control wheel with my left hand. Force of habit I guess.

[ahramin]

Mapleflt, I don't know whose -10 that is but the one I fly on occasion has a much nicer panel.

[AirFrame]

The Tandem RVs have the stick between the legs and throttles in the middle, as does the BD-4.

Um... No.

Tandem means "one behind the other". Think what a tandem bicycle looks like.

[crazy_aviator]

Some days, I have more success with BOTH hands, However, i wouldnt suggest this method to the less equipped ( Nose damage )

[PointyEngine]

I think it's essential to be proficient with both hands. Could be awkward if your primary hand is out of action and you need to ask for some assistance with your stick handling...

[ahramin]

The Tandem RVs have the stick between the legs and throttles in the middle, as does the BD-4.

Um... No.

Tandem means "one behind the other". Think what a tandem bicycle looks like.

Whoops, I think I meant not tandem. We need a word that means side by side. And did I really Capitalize tandem? What a Dork.

[Cat Driver]

Tandem can also mean both hands on your stick.

[PilotDAR]

Because the throttle is on the right side Panama

My plane too, and on the ceiling too....

[AirFrame]

Tandem can also mean both hands on your stick.

Only if one is in front of the other.

[Schooner69A]

"...I wonder if anybody sets up the RV-6/7 to fly from the right seat..."

I'm building an RV-7A and it will be flown from the right seat. I have a multitude of hours flown with throttle in left hand, stick in the right. I have flown several hours in RV's and can fly with the stick in the left hand, but I find that my finesse is with the stick in my right hand. Especially in formation. I can do it the other way around (a lot of left-handers had to switch when they joined the military), but as I'm the builder, I can do what I want! I toyed with the idea of having a wall mounted throttle/mixture combination in addition to the those in the center console, but that presented its own problems. Simplest was to just switch command seats.

[AirFrame]

I'm building an RV-7A and it will be flown from the right seat. I have a multitude of hours flown with throttle in left hand, stick in the right. I have flown several hours in RV's and can fly with the stick in the left hand, but I find that my finesse is with the stick in my right hand. Especially in formation.

Speaking as someone who started out right-hand-stick, left-hand-throttle, and converted when I bought my side-by-side RV (although after I learned formation)... You *can* make the switch. I don't think about formation anymore, even though it was a challenge when I first switched. The real benefit to sitting on the left, I find, is that my dominant hand (right) is free to do other things that need fine motor control while flying. Tuning radios in turbulence, writing down stuff on your kneeboard, unwrapping lunch and feeding yourself without stuffing the straw from the juice box up your nose, etc.

The downside to sitting on the right in an RV is that your stick is the smaller-diameter removable stick, not the larger-diameter fixed (welded) stick. And you seriously limit your resale market, in the event you hit a situation that requires it.

I think if I were to seriously want a right-hand-stick in an RV, i'd move to an -8 or a Rocket, and get the pilot's head back on the centerline where it belongs, with the baggage behind me.

[AEROBAT]

Years ago when I was instructing, I had some students that were either heavy equipment operators, or in some cases farmers, and they always had a problem with the throttles. To reduce power, they would push the throttle in or vice versa because that was the way one did it with many tractors or crawler tractors. I had no propblem at all switching from a Super Cub to a Fleet Canuck or a Luscombe but it still feels uncomfortable to fly from the right seat unless I hold the control wheel with my left hand. Force of habit I guess.

What you say about reverse controling the throttle is one of the small problems I had when first flying. Once I realized it was a result of driving my John Deer D I had no further problems. My instructer was mortified of course when using full throttle after entering a spin.