Mooney_Driver wrote:
I was at first very surprised at the heaviness of the controls
Yes, the forces needed is ultimately more important to the “feel” perhaps.
I guess it is really a case of personal preferrence even though some planes with almost similar controls feel very differently.
I “grew up” flying C150, PASE and AN2. All have yokes. Are they similar in feel? Not very much. It’s like comparing a Mini Cooper to a 40 ton truck.
Caravelle and Tupolev 154 have yokes. In the Caravelle you can use quite big movement without much effect. The TU flies like a fighter even though it is much heavier and the controls feel heavy too, i’ve wondered why it’s pilots don’t have Popeye underarms.
Or the Airbus sidesticks compared to the Cirrus. I’ve flown the A320 sim for quite a while and it was super easy to fly, great control feedback, total pilots airplane (when everything works, I hear it’s different when degraded). I’ve had very few stick time in an SR22 and felt it was quite heavy for a single side stick, not at all the same feel as the much heavier airliner.
When I started flying the Mooney I was at first very surprised at the heaviness of the controls (not unlike the AN2). For the first hours I did not like it at all. Once I started flying it alone it started to come together and today I love it for it’s stability and feel.
Basically, you will need to spend time in an airplane to see if you like it. 2 hours intro flight won’t do anything. Conversion training and 10-15 hours solo you start getting the idea. If you still don’t like it by then, it’s not for you.
The Glasflügel (and DG) stick travels horizontally for the elevator and tilts in roll. I have never flown a Cirrus to compare :-)
I do not claim to have used the “correct definition” if there is such a thing at all.
For me personally, a “centre stick” is centered with my “view axis”, meaning right in front of my body, between the legs. A stick mounted left or right of my body would be a “side stick” in my vocabulary.
I don’t know if there is any globally applicable definition. If it feels like a stick, then it’s a stick IMO. The Cirrus “side stick” does not feel like a stick. The Jabiru stick is also odd. Technically it rotates in roll, but in such a way it works and feels like a stick, probably because it pivots in pitch? I have never even sat in a Glaslügel.
A yoke is a push/pull and turn device. A stick is a left/right and fwd/aft device, it’s symmetric in movement. The turning turning of a yoke requires large movements to make sense somehow, whereas a stick does not. I don’t know, certainly a different feel. Apparently just about anything works judging by all the different designs and layouts.
As mh already said, the question here is not stick vs yoke, but that the Aquila is very probably (I have not flown one, but I usually fly other ULM/VLA types) much more responsive than the TB or the 172. It’s like comparing to drive a BMW Z4 35i on a curvy secondary road against a 520d in a straight highway.
Having said that, I prefer sticks. But it’s only a personal thing, and alternating between stick and yoke takes only one fraction of a second to feel confortable with any of them.
LeSving wrote:
I was a pit puzzled by the title, “center stick”.
Me too, I was thinking of a centrally mounted stick
I have a reasonable amount of time on centre sticks in the KZ VII as well as side stick (ie in you left hand) in the Cessna Corvalis. Both are really good setups as they free up space, put you in an arm-chair-like position and make it easy to shift your position on longer flights, etc. If doing aerobatics, I agree that a centre stick gives more authority but mostly due to the leverage needed.
I have always been puzzled by the decision to put a stick in the DA42 and it is a key reason for me to not consider them. They have even repeated it in the DA62. Not so much due to the kneeboard think, but because your passenger can’t cross the legs or move around in the seat.
