On Sunday, February 19, 2017 at 9:59:27 AM UTC-5, Martin Gregorie wrote:
On Sun, 19 Feb 2017 05:08:07 -0800, Tango Eight wrote:

Had a side stick for a decade. Center stick is just better.

Can you expand a bit, please?

Sure. I think the irreducible issue is simply one of leverage and limited motion options. There's only one way to grip the stick, there's only one way to interact with it.

All of the side stick designs I've seen for direct mechanical actuation of controls require a sliding fore/aft motion for elevator (elbow + shoulder) and a rolling motion of the wrist for aileron. Blending those motions with finesse is just more work (more fatigue) than a conventional gimballed stick. I landed out a couple of times in my side stick glider simply because I got tired and sloppy after 4+ hours and couldn't climb well. Coordination never became unconscious in that ship.

The other things that I don't like about side stick equipped gliders tend to be the *reasons* designers opted for side sticks, not the sticks themselves: supine seating position, lousy forward visibility, tiny instrument pods, cockpits with no extra space for anything.

That said, I have always had a desire to fly (but not own!) a Diana2, just because the thing was so radical.

Evan Ludeman / T8