Geriaviator,
Some folk have all the luck ! I gave a bit of air-experience to my troops when Adj of an auxiliary FCU (mostly TM, some Harvard). Reactions varied, some, terrified, would not touch the stick. Others went at it with gusto, and I had to grab it back before they tore the wings off the Tiger and killed us both.
Never knew the stick in front of the TM was detachable. What purpose might that serve ? But only shows: "YLSNED" - you learn something new every day ! So was the back one detachable, too ? Did they clip to the side of the fuselage, like the ones in our VV back seats ? Funny, I don't remember that (but then there are an awful lot of things I don't remember now - it's been a long time).
But this awakens a faint memory of an old story once heard (can't remember the context). As far as I recall (and applying it to the TM sticks), some instructor, in one last desperate attempt to instil some confidence in his student, takes his twig out and chucks it overboard (having first, I would suppose, secretly attached to it a length of strong twine).
Stude obligingly copies the instructor, and throws
his out ! (hope my supposition was correct, and string didn't break !) But then it mustn't have done, otherwise there'd be no story, would there ?
Cheers, Danny.