Sport Pilot Talk

solynubes · Posted: Sat Oct 15, 2011 1:54 pm Post subject: what is your opinion?....

Hello

I would like to know your opinions, tastes....

What do you prefer?

Stick control between your legs?

or stick to the center?

drseti · Joined: 28 Nov 2009 Posts: 1390 Location: Lock Haven PA

solynubes wrote: What do you prefer?

I'm partial to the stick between the legs, possibly because I started in an Aeronca Champ -- it's what I'm used to. The main advantage of this arrangement in side-by-side seating aircraft is that it allows for full dual controls (i.e., two sticks), which is a better situation for dual flight instruction.

But, this is only my personal opinion. Your mileage may vary.

zaitcev · Joined: 05 Jan 2010 Posts: 258 Location: Albuquerque, NM

Center stick of Jabiru offers much better clearance of knees, especially for taller pilots with long legs or big-boned ones. Even average-sized people may prefer it if they employ some bulky over-the-knee arrangements with oversized iPads and the like.

However, the center stick permits one to switch hands, which may be invaluable. For that reason, personally I prefer to suffer, even though I usually have it quite bad in stick airplanes (e.g. Remos GX and Piper Cub).

IIf you are 100% sure that you will never need to hold something down in the cockpit while flying, or that your stick hand cannot come disabled from being tired of fighting a runaway trim, the Jabiru way is something to consider.

-- Pete

srhalter58 · Joined: 15 Nov 2010 Posts: 21

I used to want a center stick, but I agree with the hands changing controls comments. The between legs controls gives you much more control over the whole cockpit when needed, radio, gps, even resting your arms on long cross countries. Flying the center stick seems more like driving a sports car, probably more natural for most guys, but of course in a car you can let go for extended periods of time with no issues..Doing the left-hand across your body when your alone lends itself to get the plane out of level flight very quickly when your concentrating on other tasks..You do have to be more careful with your passengers to make sure they stay clear of the controls, but overall I think its a better choice..

drseti · Joined: 28 Nov 2009 Posts: 1390 Location: Lock Haven PA

srhalter58 wrote: The between legs controls gives you much more control over the whole cockpit when needed,

And, it lets you hold the stick stable between your knees, when your hands are otherwise occupied. I don't see that happening with a center stick (Jabiru) or side stick (Cirrus).

FastEddieB · Joined: 07 Jan 2009 Posts: 207 Location: Mineral Bluff, GA

I've owned two aircraft with conventional sticks, both Citabrias, and two with side sticks, a Cirrus and now a Sky Arrow.

Overall, I prefer the side stick.

1) There's a more natural place for your forearm to rest, at least in the two planes I've owned

2) With your forearm supported, most of the motion is in your wrist, as opposed to the whole arm motion of a center stick

3) Room on your lap for charts, or even a tablet

4) One less thing to impact with your groin (ouch!) if you submarine in an impact.

If the plane pictured has an armrest, then 1 & 2 might not apply.

For training, I can see an advantage to each pilot having his own stick, though the single stick would make it clearer who "has" the airplane.

If you're right handed and flying from the left seat, writing things down could be problematical with only a stick on the right (also an issue if the side stick is on the right, as it is in my Sky Arrow).

The one place a conventional stick would be superior is aerobatics. Just my opinion, but the combination of gross stick movements made a lot more sense with a center stick. Better leverage, too.

All that said, I don't think stick position should rate very high among features to look for - you'll adapt pretty quickly to any reasonable control stick setup.