From Right to Left: How Airbus Pilots Adapt to the Sidestick When Promoted to Captain
One of the most distinctive features of Airbus aircraft is the sidestick. Unlike traditional yokes, Airbus sidesticks are mounted on the side console- right-hand for the First Officer and left-hand for the Captain. Once an FO is promoted to Captain, they don't just switch seats and responsibilities, they also switch hands. One may think that years of muscle memory and training dissipate. An obvious question arises: how difficult is it for them to transition from right-hand to left-hand? In this article we will scrutinise exactly that. Input, Not Muscle Memory Airbus sidesticks don't work the way the prevalence of people may think they do. Unlike yokes, they don't work like steering wheels: instead, they function more like requests. Instead of moving the aircraft yourself, directly through sidestick movement, you're giving instructions to the flight control computers on the aircraft, which handle the details and optimisations of the surface movement. If you push the sid...