FormationFlyer
Rudders in Reverse
Strange that all aircraft pilots have been retrained away from natural instincts and childhood learning for rudder yaw/directional control.
Most don't even realise that this happened during the first few hours of their training and have rarely been prompted to consider how extraordinary is the result..
Human steering on the ground.
Start on horseback as the evolutionary beginning of the human steering process.
Then the learning progression through the tricycle, billycart, bicycle, motorcycle and motor vehicles.
Then go fly and the instructor introduces you to a rudder bar or the equivalent and surprise, surprise it works the opposite way round. Oops.
Generally takes 2/3 hours of concentration before the reversal starts to become sub-conscious - remember?
Test pilots and purists often speculate on the ability of the experienced pilot to operate nosewheel steering and rudder simultaneously without any apparent mental conflict. Perhaps if a nose wheel steering wheel was changed to a miniature rudder bar there would be considerable mental conflict.
Oddly I don't recall any difficulty with the tiller in the Beverley which one could imagine to be the closer spoke of a wheel.
I well remember being caught out in a Folland Gnat having a prototype full slab tail. With gear down at slow speed and normal full nose up trim, full back stick was inadequate to prevent nose down pitch. One was then forced to go for over-ride trim via a two way switch on the instrument panel. Instinctively I selected the switch down as though to instinctively rotate the nose up - Whoops. It had been installed the other way. A green field rapidly enlarging gets your attention. Happily a quick switch reversal sorted things out otherwise I would have had some interesting practice with inverted flying.