When I first flew a real 737-200 in 1977 the Boeing instructor pilot told me that it could be flown with just two fingers holding the control wheel. In retrospect, he probably wasn't far wrong. But I don't recall ever having later problems using one hand to fly the 737 Classic series. But that was over 35 years ago and memories are not always reliable. This recent extract below from a You Tube movie about flying a Super Constellation seems to also back up the comment (or is it a myth) that even hand flying a 747 or MD-11 can be done with a light grip with two fingers in normal flight.
“We have a little bit of hydraulic helping us, but it needs a little force to handle it,” says Frei, who is operations director of the “Super Connie’s” Basle-based operator, the Super Constellation Flyers Association. “It’s not flying like a
Boeing MD-11 or
747 with just two fingers"
I haven't flown a real 737 for over 20 years but I recently did a one hour session in a Level D (full flight) B737-300 simulator with most of it hand flying raw data. Flying with the left hand on the control wheel and right hand on the thrust levers, I found it quite heavy on the ailerons and at times during practice steep turns of 45 degrees angle of bank I needed both hands on the control wheel due to the stick forces involved. Even on instrument approaches the forces to actuate the control wheel in roll and pitch were heavier than I remembered from the -200 or 737 Classic old days. This was especially with trim changes occurring with flap configuration and thrust lever adjustment during manual flying of an ILS or VOR approach.
There was no way in the world that this particular simulator could be flown with just a two fingered technique. On the other hand maybe no 737 simulator can be flown with just two fingers. This leads me to believe if the "just two fingers" spiel was nothing more than an exaggeration used by instructors to accent the need not to over-control. Mind you, it could be that one's hand strength gets a bit weaker with advancing years
Like all Level D full flight simulators, this particular machine undergoes regular scheduled fidelity checks with a current 737 Classic pilot "flying" it. There have been no comments with regards to its fidelity and presumably that includes stick forces in normal manual flight. Is the 737 Classic any heavier in the rolling plane than (say) a 737 NG? Comments invited.