Stick or Wheel

Stick or wheel

  • Total voters
    51
  • Poll closed .
Henning said:
Curious, what conventional stick aircraft have you flown left hand on stick? All the stick planes I fly have a left hand for the quadrant and right for stick, with the exception of the DA 40 which is right quadrant and the Robin 2160 which gives you the option.
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Not Spike (I could never measure up) but I've flown RV-6's & -7's and Glasairs with left handed sticks and center quadrants. Off hand, I can't think of any production airplanes like that.
 
Henning said:
Curious, what conventional stick aircraft have you flown left hand on stick? All the stick planes I fly have a left hand for the quadrant and right for stick, with the exception of the DA 40 which is right quadrant and the Robin 2160 which gives you the option.
Click to expand...

Symphony is also set up with throttle controls in the middle, so you generally fly it with the left hand on the stick when in the left seat. I had no trouble - it took maybe 5 minutes to get used to it. And when it was trimmed up it flew hands off just like an airplane with a yoke - I could manage pitch with elevator trim, and roll with rudder pressure if needed.

Truly, I don't think the type of control input (stick/yoke) matters - the airplane is either stable or it's not. With a neutral or unstable airplane, I think a stick is less fatiguing than a yoke.
 
gibbons said:
Not Spike (I could never measure up) but I've flown RV-6's & -7's and Glasairs with left handed sticks and center quadrants. Off hand, I can't think of any production airplanes like that.
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Fairchild 24, Luscombe, Monocoupe I believe. A few others, probably.
 
Greg Bockelman said:
Interesting way of interpreting what I said. I flew from the RIGHT seat with my RIGHT hand.
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Yeah, realized how poorly that was worded after I wrote it. Oops.

Anyway, I guess either be ambidextrous, use your opposite hand to fly for a while, or don't write. :)
 
Henning said:
Curious, what conventional stick aircraft have you flown left hand on stick? All the stick planes I fly have a left hand for the quadrant and right for stick, with the exception of the DA 40 which is right quadrant and the Robin 2160 which gives you the option.
Click to expand...

Nearly all of my "stick" time is in a Diamond DA20-C1, which has center quadrant.

Come to think of it, the only planes I have flown stick are the DA20, the Cirrus and the Citabria (briefly); in the latter, Diana was doing all the power management, as well as trying to make me barf.

The DA20s flown at USAFA for primary training are modified to put the primary flight instruments on the right side, so the trainee is accustomed to using right hand on stick, left on throttle.

Gibbons said:
Not Spike (I could never measure up)...
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You refer, I presume, to my ever-expanding girth... :D
 
smigaldi said:
The side stick was a good idea except that I am a leftie and with the side stick I cannot easily take my hand off of it to write anything down. At least witha center stick or yoke I can fly with my right hand and write with my left.
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Can't you switch sides? It was my impression that both the Avidyne and G1000 can have either "panel" on either side. That way if you are a leftie you can fly from the right side with your right hand while copying things down with your left.
 
Whether stick or yoke, some students like to try the other seat and I routinely suggest this as a brief but very informative exercise to all my flight students sometime during their flight training. Although I'm not naturally ambidextrous, my mindset is to make the most ergonomicly correct hand work the appropriate controls of all kinds, and regardless of my position in the cockpit.
 
NC Pilot said:
Can't you switch sides? It was my impression that both the Avidyne and G1000 can have either "panel" on either side. That way if you are a leftie you can fly from the right side with your right hand while copying things down with your left.
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In most G1000 airplanes with two display units, the left display is centered in front of the left pilot seat. The right display is not centered in front of the right seat. When you move up to three-screen airplanes, the two outer displays are centered on the pilot/copilot seats.

One can certainly fly a G1000 from the right seat, but there's no way to set it up for a MFD/PFD setup, that takes an avionics shop.
 
Depends on the mission of the plane.

What is better in a car, stick or automatic? Depends.
 
smigaldi said:
The side stick was a good idea except that I am a leftie and with the side stick I cannot easily take my hand off of it to write anything down. At least witha center stick or yoke I can fly with my right hand and write with my left.
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Solution: Fly from the other seat.

Missa
 
I have access to and fly 3 airplanes all with different control layouts.

Grumman AA1B w/ conventional yoke/throttle positions.

Hiperbipe SNS-7: side-by-side seating w/ sticks in front of each pilot, center mounted throttle/prop controls + an acro throttle on the left side for the pilot.

Eagle 150B w/center mounted control stick and a throttle on both the left and right cabin walls.

Being a serious North Paw (read: left hand is REALLY stupid...:rofl: ) I tend to like the right hand stick/left hand throttle combination.

But given the chance to fly almost anything I suppose I'd get comfortable with the control layout soon enough...my wife says I'm VERY train-able...

Chris
 
Grumman79L said:
Hiperbipe SNS-7: side-by-side seating w/ sticks in front of each pilot, center mounted throttle/prop controls + an acro throttle on the left side for the pilot.
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Hey Chris, we have a Hiperbipe pilot (from your state) signed up to come to our Gaston's fly-in this year, and he has promised me a ride. I'm looking forward to the experience. :yes:
 
Henning said:
Curious, what conventional stick aircraft have you flown left hand on stick? All the stick planes I fly have a left hand for the quadrant and right for stick, with the exception of the DA 40 which is right quadrant and the Robin 2160 which gives you the option.
Click to expand...
Howdy mate,

For me, all of the side-by-side RVs have center engine controls, including an RV10 I got to fly yesterday.

Holy Cow!!! Anyone looking for a comfortable 4-place that will do 200 mph ground speed with EASE. . . for about a fourth the cost of a certificated airplane needs to look into an RV10.

Also, the Lancair Legacy we're looking to begin building this year has center engine controls. So did the Luscombe I learned a lot of my primary PPL in back in the late '60's and early 70's.

The rest of the Lancair fleet comes with center engine controls and sidesticks. When I flew the Lancair IV, I flew it from the right side and the left side. My RV8 is a conventional stick-bird (stick in right hand, engine controls on left-hand console). That is one of the things I like about the Lancair line--I can fly them from either side with equal ease.

I've found I have a harder time flying my Cessnas from the right side. For some reason, my yoke movements on the right aren't as intuitive as they are with a stick. Since I'm not an instructor in any shape or fashion, I don't really need to spend much time over there. But occasionally the wife likes to do the left-seat thing, so I try to stay proficient enough not to bend the airplane or ourselves. She's not a rated pilot, but no doubt can get us on the ground under almost any circumstances without hurting us our the airplane.

Regards.

-JD
 
Greg Bockelman said:
I got the point. But I have flown a side stick from the right side and I am right handed. It really isn't an issue.
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I dislike the Cirrus sidestick, and being a lefty flying in the left seat is part of it, but the bigger part, to me, is I think Cirrus got the geometry wrong. I don't think the stick movement meets proper ergonomics. Give me a center stick anyday.
 
Ken Ibold said:
I dislike the Cirrus sidestick, and being a lefty flying in the left seat is part of it, but the bigger part, to me, is I think Cirrus got the geometry wrong. I don't think the stick movement meets proper ergonomics. Give me a center stick anyday.
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Have you flown a Lancair?

Their stick seems pretty intuitive and reflexive to me. The Cirrus, at least SR22 model, felt a little odd to me--too severe of an angle. Lancair has an angle too, just not as bad and ergonomically, it feels better to me. But I'm right-handed.

Regards.

-JD
 
CowboyPilot said:
Have you flown a Lancair?

Their stick seems pretty intuitive and reflexive to me. The Cirrus, at least SR22 model, felt a little odd to me--too severe of an angle. Lancair has an angle too, just not as bad and ergonomically, it feels better to me. But I'm right-handed.

Regards.

-JD
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No, I have not yet had the pleasure of flying a Lancair. Err, make that a Columbia.
 
Diana said:
Hey Chris, we have a Hiperbipe pilot (from your state) signed up to come to our Gaston's fly-in this year, and he has promised me a ride. I'm looking forward to the experience. :yes:
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Hi Diana,
Yea, I just talked to Ben R. and he's so happy he's 'bout to bust a seam!
He not only bought a Hiperbipe but he also bought a COMPLETE kit!.

I've been helping another guy here in North LA. who has his HB about ready to cover so that will make 3 'bipes in the local area...something tells me this summer is gonna be FUN!:goofy:

I might just be at Gaston's also; I'll have to ask the spousal unit (actually it may be more akin to begging and groveling but Hey! I got a Degree in B&G from LA Tech).:D


If I do get to Gaston's I'll take you for a spin too...literally!

Chris
N777HT
 
NC Pilot said:
Can't you switch sides? It was my impression that both the Avidyne and G1000 can have either "panel" on either side. That way if you are a leftie you can fly from the right side with your right hand while copying things down with your left.
Click to expand...

Not Quite...

You could almost do this in the G1000 by pushing the red button on the audio panel to put it into forced reversionary mode which will show a PFD-plus-engine-gauges presentation on both screens (the left screen will always be PFD though). Then, you punch the button when you need the MFD. Kind of a waste of a display though.

Avidyne has NO reversionary mode. :no: PFD is PFD, MFD is MFD, no air-reboot, any failure and you're back on the steam gauges. :vomit: :eek:
 
Grumman79L said:
I might just be at Gaston's also; I'll have to ask the spousal unit (actually it may be more akin to begging and groveling but Hey! I got a Degree in B&G from LA Tech).:D
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Cool! I hope you make it!

Just got a DVD from Ben today. I see he was featured on Wings to Adventure with his Champ. I wonder if we could talk him into bringing his guitar.

Grumman79L said:
If I do get to Gaston's I'll take you for a spin too...literally!
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Great! Put me down on your list! :yes:
 
Henning said:
Curious, what conventional stick aircraft have you flown left hand on stick? All the stick planes I fly have a left hand for the quadrant and right for stick, with the exception of the DA 40 which is right quadrant and the Robin 2160 which gives you the option.
Click to expand...

I've flown both - Off the top of my head, Cub, Super Cub, and Extra were right hand stick, left hand throttle. Diamond Star, Cirrus, Columbia were left hand stick, right hand throttle.
 
Ken Ibold said:
No, I have not yet had the pleasure of flying a Lancair. Err, make that a Columbia.
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I haven't flown a Columbia either. Lancair 320, Legacy, IV and IVP but none of their fixed gear models.

The Legacy is nothing but fun, I tell you. I'm drooling with anticipation.:goofy:

Regards.

-JD
 
Ken Ibold said:
I dislike the Cirrus sidestick, and being a lefty flying in the left seat is part of it, but the bigger part, to me, is I think Cirrus got the geometry wrong. I don't think the stick movement meets proper ergonomics. Give me a center stick anyday.
Click to expand...

Well, FWIW, my sidestick time is of the transport category type. As in A-320. But my point was that to me the issue of being right handed with a right handed control stick was not an issue as far as writing was concerned.
 
Henning said:
Curious, what conventional stick aircraft have you flown left hand on stick? All the stick planes I fly have a left hand for the quadrant and right for stick, with the exception of the DA 40 which is right quadrant and the Robin 2160 which gives you the option.
Click to expand...

Diamond DA-20 is left hand on stick right hand on throttle. Which did feel really weird for me since my previous experience with sticks were in Cub like aircraft.

It took me about 10 seconds to make the change in my head though. Once I was in the air it was no big deal.

I was flying the Diamond last night and considering how my previous flights of recent have been in 172s I was very happy to have a stick again. I have *way* more feel and it feels like I *know* the airplane and how far I am from a stall much more easily. The yoke just isn't natural. It's unbalanced unless you fly with two hands. It sucks.
 
Recently a thread on the Red board got me thinking about the control stick layout in the British Spitfire, Hurricane, etc. where the bottom of the stick pivoted fore and aft while the top 8" of the stick pivoted left and right for roll control. The main advantage is the stick never gets near your leg(s) in a tight 'pit (the top pivot point is at leg level).
I mocked one up out of wood and it felt really weird...then the light bulb went off...I had made the mock-up stick with two straight pieces of wood (vertical hand grip like a conventional stick) and the angles needed to produce the throws required required lots of wrist/elbow twist. Putting a ring at the top so the hand grip was more-or-less horizontal made it feel really good...a lot like putting your hand at the 1-2 o'clock position of the steering wheel in your car and going side to side (and my wife still hasn't noticed the missing dish towel holder :dunno: )
In a confined cockpit I could see this type of control stick being quite useful and comfortable.


I wish I had an Experimental Airplane so I could modify such things if I saw fit to do so...

Hey. Wait a minute...


Chris;)
 
The spring of 2003 I had the rare opportunity to sit for a few moments in the cockpit of a newly restored Spitfire at the Duxford Aerodrome. It was like putting on a glove. Everything was in exactly the right place.

Here's a cockpit view.

http://www.frasca.com/TradeShowDemo/frasca_spitfire.mov

Grumman79L said:
Recently a thread on the Red board got me thinking about the control stick layout in the British Spitfire, Hurricane, etc. where the bottom of the stick pivoted fore and aft while the top 8" of the stick pivoted left and right for roll control. ....
Click to expand...
 
Steve said:
The spring of 2003 I had the rare opportunity to sit for a few moments in the cockpit of a newly restored Spitfire at the Duxford Aerodrome. It was like putting on a glove. Everything was in exactly the right place.

Here's a cockpit view.

http://www.frasca.com/TradeShowDemo/frasca_spitfire.mov
Click to expand...

The link didn't work for me Steve.
2003? was that the Spit owned by Carollyn Grace? If so; that was the finest Spit to "Grace" the skys...a truly exceptional aircraft and lady...
My Dads logs are filled with WOW's and such when the time recorded was in a Spit. His first flight in a Hurri IIB refered to it as a "Bus"...

Chris
 
That link is a 360° view Quicktime movie (258kb). You'll need the Apple Quicktime player to view it. (I just tested it on a separate computer). It is not of the Spitfire I saw at Duxford, though.

I don't remember who the owner is of the one at Duxford. I really don't remember much of what was said as I was taking in all the hardware spread around the shop. The plane was sittting at the door ready to go out, with other Spitfire airframes behind it in various states of restoration. It was after hours and we only stayed a few minutes. This was in March, 2003, just a couple of days before the U.S. invasion of Iraq.


Grumman79L said:
The link didn't work for me Steve.
2003? was that the Spit owned by Carollyn Grace? If so; that was the finest Spit to "Grace" the skys...a truly exceptional aircraft and lady...
My Dads logs are filled with WOW's and such when the time recorded was in a Spit. His first flight in a Hurri IIB refered to it as a "Bus"...

Chris
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
I just like the yoke better. With a yoke I can tell whats the aircraft is doing just by touching it. Can't really get into the stick that much really.
 
Hey everybody! New to the board. Just over from the big red one.

The question of stick vs. yoke really depends on the mission of the plane to me. If it's an aerobatic plane, fighter/combat plane or just Saturday afternoon goofing around plane, then I would spec. a stick. If it's a cross country touring, family, commercial plane, then I would say yoke. I have absolutely no side stick time, but it seems to be the best option for all types of flying, but then again I'm right handed.

I learned on, and mostly fly a yoke, but I have some conventional stick time too. For me I favor the yoke simply because it's not in the way when I get in or out of the plane and doesn't interfear with my kneeboard. However you can't beat the stick for fulfilling your fighter pilot fantisies!
 
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