PapaSmurf630 Posted August 17, 2005 Share Posted August 17, 2005 This question has been bothering me lately... Jets like F16's have a throttle on your left and a control stick on your right. Is there any difference for left handed people? Or do they just have to make-do with it? Does the Air Force not like Left Handed people?? So many questions...probably simple answers. Sorry for the stupid question...but I've never heard anyone ask it :o Link to post Share on other sites
Iron Eagle Posted August 17, 2005 Share Posted August 17, 2005 The Italeri 1/72 X-35's cockpit comes with two identical sticks, one on the left and one on the right. I'm not sure if this is correct, but this may be something new. Link to post Share on other sites
Murph Posted August 17, 2005 Share Posted August 17, 2005 Jake, The solution is "Suck it up and deal with it." No doubt somebody will soon sue, because they feel oppressed, and my taxes will go up, and the competency of aircrews will go down. Regards, Murph Link to post Share on other sites
Chris Kethan Posted August 17, 2005 Share Posted August 17, 2005 Jake, The solution is "Suck it up and deal with it." No doubt somebody will soon sue, because they feel oppressed, and my taxes will go up, and the competency of aircrews will go down. Regards, Murph Murph, You sound pretty cynical..... Pretty soon the USAF & USN will have to deal with lawsuits because primary flight training is "too hard", and "belittles me as a person".. I'm glad I got out when I did. We're starting to sound like curmudgeonly old men... :D Chris Link to post Share on other sites
Raymond Posted August 17, 2005 Share Posted August 17, 2005 as a leftie' woudl be nice if they finaly made a duel cockpit, but i doubt it, woudent it be bias then against the right handed people as left handers get special treatment? :D regards Raymond (still struggling with the can opener) Link to post Share on other sites
Slartibartfast Posted August 18, 2005 Share Posted August 18, 2005 If one learns to fly aircraft using their left hand for throttle and right hand for attitude, their brains will never "know" otherwise. Take a left-handed kid and teach him/her to bat as a righty and he'll do fine as long as he never gets the opportunity to bat lefty. It will be "natural" to bat righty. Link to post Share on other sites
volzj Posted August 18, 2005 Share Posted August 18, 2005 I'm left handed, and having used joystick operated games when I was younger, I recall doing it right handed. The stick was fitted that way and after a short period of acclimation it seemed perfectly normal. I can't imagine it would be a problem in a/c as that's the only way to learn it, so you're not undoing any muscle memory. Just my $.02... Link to post Share on other sites
helyun302 Posted August 18, 2005 Share Posted August 18, 2005 The tech data covering two types of cockpits would be very expensive. It costs $1000 to change one page in a tech order. Imagine having two sets or expanded books covering left handed cockpits. And it isnt a simple thing just to have a line saying 'do the same thing but on the left hand side', the procedures would be spelled out for both pits and the wiring diagrams would all have to be separate. It woudl be a nightmare from a maintainers perspective. Link to post Share on other sites
Just call me Ray Posted August 18, 2005 Share Posted August 18, 2005 In civilian general aviation the control yoke is operated by the left hand and the throttle by the right hand. At first it might seem counter-intuitive but hey, it works at least eventually. Also keep in mind that all Air Force pilots (I would imagine, at least) would start off in this configuration and would therefore have to "unlearn" and "relearn" how to do it the opposite way when they go into the jets. Link to post Share on other sites
Pete "Pig" Fleischmann Posted August 18, 2005 Share Posted August 18, 2005 I'm a lefty. Cool thing about it when flying the F-16 was I never had to take my hand off the stick to write something on my kneeboard. Pig Link to post Share on other sites
The_Animal Posted August 18, 2005 Share Posted August 18, 2005 If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Link to post Share on other sites
mycole Posted August 18, 2005 Share Posted August 18, 2005 I'm a lefty. Cool thing about it when flying the F-16 was I never had to take my hand off the stick to write something on my kneeboard.Pig HEY!!! I knew there would be more reasons why I liked you, other than that you are tutoring me in the building of the big bug (whether you knew it or not). I too am a lefty and, although I've never flown the viper, while I was a teen at Edwards, my girlfriend's dad was testing LANTIRN systems and he told me the same thing you just did, that he could fly w/ his right and write w/ his left, and since he was a leftie, his notes were legible whereas his buddies' notes were not. For me, flying flight sims, since they're made for righties, I've just adapted and now it's just second nature. And for sh!ts and giggles I sometimes switch to fly left handed and it just feels bad. Link to post Share on other sites
FirstTimeModeler Posted August 18, 2005 Share Posted August 18, 2005 Jake, The solution is "Suck it up and deal with it." No doubt somebody will soon sue, because they feel oppressed, and my taxes will go up, and the competency of aircrews will go down. Regards, Murph Murph, You sound pretty cynical..... Nothing wrong with that if it's right. Link to post Share on other sites
skido Posted August 18, 2005 Share Posted August 18, 2005 In our air force (RNLAF) we had i thought 3 F-16's for left hand pilots, so yes there are F-16's fot left hand pilots. one serial i know who has that is the J-205. Greetings Ron van Dijk Link to post Share on other sites
Michiel Nijkamp Posted August 18, 2005 Share Posted August 18, 2005 (edited) In our air force (RNLAF) we had i thought 3 F-16's for left hand pilots, so yes there are F-16's fot left hand pilots. one serial i know who has that is the J-205. Greetings Ron van Dijk We have? :lol: There are? Never heard of it...... :blink: Got pics of it, or can you take some? Edited August 18, 2005 by Michiel Nijkamp Link to post Share on other sites
habu2 Posted August 19, 2005 Share Posted August 19, 2005 In our air force (RNLAF) we had i thought 3 F-16's for left hand pilots, so yes there are F-16's fot left hand pilots. one serial i know who has that is the J-205. Actually there are an equal number of F-16s for both left handed and right handed pilots. The control stick for all of them is on the right side however..... :P Link to post Share on other sites
Skull Leader Posted August 19, 2005 Share Posted August 19, 2005 (edited) sitting in the cockpit of a tomcat, it felt very natural to have left on the throttle and right on the HOTAS. I'm also left-handed and that's always seemed like the way it should be, I never thought it was a big deal. I mean, unless you're in a foreign country, about 97% (that 3% includes imports that people don't get changed over) of the cars in the US have the drivers side on the left, which means you wind up shifting with your right. Left-handed or no, that's just the way you do it. Edited August 19, 2005 by Skull Leader Link to post Share on other sites
Tilt Posted August 19, 2005 Share Posted August 19, 2005 Personally....I can use either my left hand.....or my right hand...... ....err... .....what was the question again??!! :P Tilt Link to post Share on other sites
dews Posted August 21, 2005 Share Posted August 21, 2005 (edited) I'm right handed and I did my private training in a Zlin 242 which was a centre stick controlled aircraft. I was trained to fly with my left hand on the stick and my right hand on the throttle which I'm sure is the normal way everyone is trained for a private liscence. Anyways, it didn't feel weird at all, in fact I never really thought of it so I'm sure that left handed fighter jocks who are way better pilots than I am can operate their aircraft with their right hand on the stick and have no problems at all. At least none that would require incredibly expensive retrofittings for a single pilot. Edited August 21, 2005 by dews Link to post Share on other sites
Wild Bill Posted August 21, 2005 Share Posted August 21, 2005 The A-320, the captain flies with left hand....first officer flies with right hand. Same goes for almost every civillian airplane out there - light twins, turboprops and jets. And when a copilot is promoted to Captain, they have to learn the "other side" again. WB Link to post Share on other sites
mycole Posted August 21, 2005 Share Posted August 21, 2005 Personally....I can use either my left hand.....or my right hand..........err... .....what was the question again??!! :lol: Tilt you're a bad bad monkey! :lol: Link to post Share on other sites
Recommended Posts