Scott asked:
> .... isn't guiding a sled just like steering a plane? When turning left > in a plane, as on a sled, you are pushing the right side of the yoke > up and pulling the left side down and vise versa for the right turn. > When turning left on a sled, you drag your left foot toes on the snow > to make a better turn and in a plane you use the left > rudder to make the turn and vise versa for the right turn. Scott, Well, yeah, kinda, sorta. :-) Your descriptions are correct but there are some differences. Those of us (Coupe owners) with yokes, turn the "wheel" left or right just like we do in our cars - vehicles in which we have tens of thousands of hours of practice. That's good. But, when sitting upright on a sled, you use your feet exactly the opposite way as you use rudders in a plane. Hence, we Northerners with lots of kid-sledding experience burned deep down in our young minds have some unlearning to do when learning to steer on the ground with our feet in a 3-control aircraft. I don't suppose the Southerners have any kid experience to unlearn unless they spent too much time in cheap soap-box derby carts. Interestingly, powered parachutes and trikes use the sled method of steering on the ground. That's probably because the early models of each had nothing more than a wheel and a steering bar attached to the top of it. But, because the ground steering on the PPCs and trikes is the opposite of "normal" aircraft, transitioning private pilots have difficulty in transitioning. Ed Ed Burkhead http://edburkhead.com East Peoria, Illinois ed -at- edburkhead???.com (change -at- to @ and remove "???")
