....and how to pilots adapt to left-hand control columns?
I posted the following in the SLF section - and then noticed there was a new thread on the same topic here. I hope the admins don't mind but I've now copied my SLF post to this thread as it's on a similar topic:-
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I'm a private pilot and, of course, have never flown an airliner - but I would love to know just now Airbus pilots manage to fly from the left hand seat - using that left-hand controller.
It seems odd to me that after years of training and sitting in the right hand seat - using the right hand controller - when a pilot is promoted to the left hand seat he has to use his left hand to fly the plane
Anyone who's naturally right-handed wouldn't normally choose to operate a computer joystick with their left hand - so why on earth should aircraft manufacturers expect someone with a brain which is trained and hard-wired to do the most delicate operations with their right hand to suddenly convert to flying an airliner with their left?
No one would expect a brain surgeon to swop his scalpel into his left hand - so why expect pilots to be able to do so?Maybe Airbus think pilots are a special breed - totally ambidextrous. Maybe the naturally right-handed pilots are all rejected in the course of training -who knows? But I'd love to hear from Airbus pilots how they cope with moving from right to left and whether their finesse in handling the controls is ever quite as good afterwards.