Guy Alcala wrote:


The wing sweep control (aka the Trombone handle) of the production a/c pulled
back to sweep the wings back, and forward to sweep them forward; even so, it
wasn't an intuitive design, and labelling the extremes FWD and AFT really didn't
help. Bill Gunston, in his ARCO book on the F-111, says that at least three
experienced pilots, including one company test pilot, got it wrong with serious
consequences. He wrote that it's mildly amazing that 40 years after a/c controls
began to be designed to resemble the system they were controlling to avoid
errors, no one insisted on having a small 'wing' mounted on the cockpit side,
which would be moved in exactly the same direction as you wanted the real one to,
and which a single glance at would eliminate any possible confusion.

Guy


Yes...pilot error will always be with us despite what Mary says..
--

-Gord.
(use gordon in email)