Hi Steve,
I take exception to Tracy's statement about formation flying. I do
quite a lot of formation flying and instruct every year at our clinic.
The only thing you really don't want (and cant have) is a vernier. There
is no need because the friction lock works just fine. However, a vernier
would make any kind of quality formation flight impossible and could in theory
be dangerous.
Quadrant vs. push-pull is a personal choice. I have never talked to
anyone who flies with the left hand that has experienced even the slightest
difficulty adjusting. Quadrants look cooler and are possibly easier to
operate sometimes, but they are more expensive, and take up more space.
Consider this though. When flying a light aircraft with the left
hand on the sick, the right hand is now free to work the throttle and, more
importantly, all the other switches and knobs. Most radios are set up to
be operated with the right hand on the control knob (which is mounted on the
right side of the device). When using the left hand to say tune a radio
or adjust the altimeter, your wrist now may block out whatever digits on the
display that you are trying to adjust. I am much better at trying to
tune a radio or mess with a computer in turbulence with my right hand.
My left hand has no problem with flying the plane - that is gross motor
stuff.
My cockpit is setup so that my right hand easily adjust all the knobs,
switches and computers while my left hand never has to leave the stick and PTT
button. I once flew an RV-4 with a quadrant and felt that I constantly
had to switch from flying with my right hand so that my left could work the
throttle, to flying with my left so that my right hand could operate the
radios and what-not. Switching back and forth is far less than optimal,
especially in formation flight when you occasionally need to make a quick
adjustment of something. That experience made me very glad that I
installed a push-pull operated with my right hand.
Dave Leonard