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Old 16th Aug 2011, 15:46
  #2937 (permalink)  
RWA
 
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Melbourne
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Quoting iceman50:-

".....there is no difference in which hand you use to fly the A/C from the LHS or RHS be it a Boeing or an Airbus,so your design change is NOT required."

Sincerely hope we don't fall out, mate. But there clearly IS a difference.

In a conventional 'transport category' aeroplane you will normally have both hands on the yoke. You can take either hand off, to attend to other things if needed - but both hands will be 'in practice.'

In the sort of small stuff I used to fly, the same applied - especially if the sticks for both pilots were between the knees.

In an Airbus, you HAVE to 'work the stick' with whichever hand is on the side of the sidestick. Normally the left hand if you're the captain, the right hand if you're what we used to call the 'co-pilot.' Except, of course, that a lot of the stuff amateurs like me flew had the two cockpits 'in line' rather than side-by-side.......

Sorry, just in terms of flying, I STILL can't see why Airbus put the sidesticks literally 'one side or the other,' rather than between the knees.

As I implied earlier, it seems to me to be a considerable (and, as far as I can see, totally unnecessary) change from a century-long history of 'common controls'?
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