PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Flying with the wrong hand
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Old 22nd Jul 2005, 02:13
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Milt
 
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Canberra Australia
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Right to left handed.

Most of us have mastered the change over from learning to fly with the right hand on stick and left on engine control to the reverse for most two place cockpits.

One then has to wonder whether the process is more difficult for a leftie.

Of course we have all managed to operate aircraft rudders which all work in a reverse instinctive sense. All because the early designers considered it an unnecessary complication to cross over the control cables and concluded that we pilots would all be able to operate rudders in reverse. So now we all do just that.

Couple of others to ponder.

Is there a standard direction to operate a twist grip power control?

Which way should you push/pull a wing sweep control ?

And which way should I operate the rocker switch to operate the electric windows in my car. Mostly I get it wrong!!!

One that almost did me in. Ran out of oxygen in a Canberra. In a hypoxic condition grabbed and pulled a knob to release oxy from the emergency bottle in the seat. The knob moved as though to indicate correct operation. Wrong. I should have pushed.
That was a close call for two of us.
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