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Old 20th Jul 2005, 20:56
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Gertrude the Wombat
 
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Cambridge, England, EU
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Flying with the wrong hand

What I usually fly has left hand on the yoke, right hand on the throttle. The other day I flew something that had left hand on the throttle, right hand on the stick.

Whilst I was thinking about it I did the correct thing with the correct hand. But once or twice I didn't ... particularly the stall recovery, where I instinctively put the left hand forward a bit and the right hand forward all the way, and ended up heading straight down. (I'm not sure whether or not the instructor realised why I did what I did - I recovered it OK, he didn't say anything (other than to comment on where the G meter had got to), and I didn't work it out for myself until after the flight.)

Reminds me of my first couple of flying lessons, when I was much more used to driving boats, and in that sort of boat when you suddenly need full power you pull back on the throttle, so once or twice I chopped the power in the aircraft when I was trying to get full power.

Having read about how this effect operates on people re flight controls I have decided I'm never going to fly anything where you push forwards to go up!!

So, I assume that people who regularly fly both left-handed and right-handed (whichever way round you define it) aircraft in due course sort themselves out and never do something with the wrong hand? How long does it take, I wonder.
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