A question for Airbus pilots...

[cforst513]

Actually, 2 questions:

First, did you find it difficult to switch from the traditional yoke to the 'joystick' type yoke? How much transition training and time do they give you?

Second, is the transition from the right seat to the left seat hard? If you're a right-handed person, is it weird/hard to switch to your non-dominant left hand (or vice versa)?

 

[mynameisjim]

For me, switching to the sidestick was very easy for normal flight, and normal flight control laws. The airplane stabilities, bank angle hold, auto pitch trim, etc. make it easy to fly.
The stick is more difficult to fly than a yoke when the flight controls degrade, for example, when you lose your automatic pitch trim. There are no electric trim switches, so you have to trim manually.

Also, I found the transition from the left to the right seat was intuitive, but it requires a different scan for me. Having the ND and engine pages on the right, feels different.

 

[Big Duke Six]

I like the sidestick, but don't have much experience with the airplane in degraded control laws (modes). The airplane handles wonderfully when everything is working. The sidestick seems very natural, and did not really require any kind of conscious "adjustment" period. We had 40 hours of sim time at Frontier in our initial training.


As far as the right-to-left transition goes, I'm thinking it will be the same as going from the right to the left in any other airplane. At least for me , even with a yoke I still flew with my left hand when in the left seat and my right hand when in the right seat. The throttles in the center sort of force that technique. I agree the scan is probably going to be harder to adjust to than the stick, but that's just speculation right now

 

[NewBlue]

Flying with the stick wasn't difficult. Getting used to the idea that the @$$%# thing (aircraft) stayed where you left it with no tendency to return to a stable condition i.e. straight and level.

It is growing on me though, much like a fungus.

 

[cforst513]

good stuff so far! i had imagined it being a relatively hard thing to do, both situations i proposed.

i guess that i can extend the question to the GA folks, those flying Cirrus aircraft. how was your transition? what other GA aircraft out there have joystick handles besides cirrus?

 

[bigD]

i guess that i can extend the question to the GA folks, those flying Cirrus aircraft. how was your transition? what other GA aircraft out there have joystick handles besides cirrus?

The transition to the stick in the Cirrus is seamless. I started feeling 100% comfortable within minutes. It's a fantastic airplane. Climb the 22 at Vx and you feel like you're on your back while doing 2500+fpm. The hardest thing about flying the thing is getting used to the very, very flat landing attitude.