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Old 21st Mar 2005, 14:12
  #14 (permalink)  
Old Smokey
 
Join Date: Jun 2004
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I'm sorry Dylsexlic, but I don't think that this is an issue for pilots. I'm a Right hander, and with the curious exception of peeling oranges and dealing cards with my Left hand, suffer horrendous problems out of the cockpit when having to use Leftie's equipment, e.g. a friend's computer with a mouse on the left. Aircraft require the use of both hands, i.e. one on the Stick / wheel, and the other on the throttle, and pilots quickly learn to become co-ordinated in the simultaneous use of both hands. They are not 'handed'.

My personal experience covers centre stick (tandem aircraft), and side stick and control wheel flown from both the Left and Right seats. The only factor to adjust to when changing seats (and thus changing over the Left hand / Right hand function) was the quite significant difference in visual perception upon changing seats, but even that is fairly quickly overcome.

That's my own personal experience, but my observation as an instructor in taking a Left seater from elsewhere for Airline entry into the Right seat, or a Right seater F/O and training him / her for command in the Left seat, the time to adjust to the different visual perspective is quite short, with absolutely no discernible difference between Left and Right handers.

If there is a difference, it seems to be well overcome by pilots applying cognitive thought to the process of flying, as opposed to the knee jerk intuitive reaction. I think other posters have made the same remark.

As an item of trivia, I was once told by a Left handed tennis coach that Lefties enjoy about a thousandth of a second faster reaction time advantage over their Right handed colleagues, due to the slightly shorter nerve path from the Left Arm / Hand to the brain.

Not taking any cheap shots here Dylsexlic, but your call sign leads me to ponder whether you are compounding the Left / Right issue with dyslexia, and that IS a very significant problem with aviation.

Regards,

Old Smokey
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