Have any of you side by side builders who started out tandem put your throttle selfishly on the left side of the panel/cockpit?


I'm tempted to sit in the right seat to have the flap and throttle in my left hand, but then there are other downsides--like the cargo door is on the other side of the plane--and some other panel adjustments.

Could you run two throttles?

On a side note, getting used to a left handed stick didn't take me too long. Maybe 5-10 landings in a Clipper.


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Ya I'm with Cam on this. I caught on to the left hand yoke/right hand throttle quite fast. And I can go back and forth between each style with no issue.

I go back and forth between the Champ and 182 without thinking about it. Doesn't screw with you like you might think. The hard part is remembering you are not sitting on center line in the side by side and not sighting over the center of the cowl.

CFOT has a good point about longitudinal alignment in side by side. I never had trouble with either seat using a control wheel, but the left seat in the Luscombe always made me uneasy. I was happy spending most of my Luscombe time instructing.

Given enough iterations, we can get comfortable with anything.

I totally get where your coming from but I certainly wouldn't put the throttle on the left side. I'd just fly from the right seat. I have the opposite problem and it is giving me fits trying to find a TW airplane to get current again. I might just have to go buy another Luscombe.

The problem with muscle memory or handedness is that we have to do the new technique as many times as we did the old way to become comfortable with the new.

Coaches know that students do not rise to the occasion game time. They do exactly what you've trained them to do.

As others have found, going between throttle and stick/yoke on alternating sides is not a problem for me. Husky and 185. No issues. I personally would have one throttle center mounted as opposed to two. The added complexity would not be justified as you will figure out how to fly the plane in 1 hour.

Go take a flight in the left seat of a Cessna 172 and report back to us.

My kitfox is right hand throttle and left hand stick. I can switch to to the opposite and fly just fine. Until...I demonstrate a full flap stall during a flight review in a sport cub. With flaps on Kitfox pitches nose down and sport cub pitches nose up. The problem starts when I take the flaps off after stall recovery in the cub and the nose pitches down. Muscle memory instantly kicks in and pulls left hand back and pushes right hand forward giving the opposite of the desired results and starts the most ridiculous pilot induced oscillation you've ever seen.

This video comes to mind.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MFzDaBzBlL0

It's a good example of unlearning something but also that kids learn muscle memory faster than us old folk. Which is why a 40 year old isn't likely to solo in 10 hours like a 16 year old might.
Also why something is so frustrating until your brain "gets is"

Can't remember where I was first shown this video. Might have been here.

Bagarre wrote:This video comes to mind.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MFzDaBzBlL0

It's a good example of unlearning something but also that kids learn muscle memory faster than us old folk. Which is why a 40 year old isn't likely to solo in 10 hours like a 16 year old might.
Also why something is so frustrating until your brain "gets is"

Can't remember where I was first shown this video. Might have been here.

Off topic, but I work with Destin. I haven't given his bike a shot yet, still bolstering my ego for the inevitable failure.

Bearhawk?

My Uncle had an experimental Taylorcraft w/ an O-300 Continental. It had a split throttle cable in it. Two throttle knobs. one on the left and one in the middle. Everyone was happy. Doesn't cost much more and only one more small hole.

Chris