Why do yokes have dual handgrips?

If you learned to fly way back when, you would be happy with one hand on the stick and the other free for the throttle!!
 
Supermarine Spitfire. One hand on the control stick was ... good enough! -Skip

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It has two because real airplanes have a stick and a tailwheel. Fearless's beech gets a pass though.
 
I'm surprised nobody has mentioned that frequently you need to use the hand you normally use on the control wheel (e.g. your left hand on the control wheel and right hand on throttle/mixture) to reach into the left side panel pocket for a checklist, POH, chart, etc., and use the right hand on the control wheel.

With a control stick between your legs you can use either hand seamlessly. o_O
 
The real reason:
When your engine quits, you lose control and the airplane goes into a dive - at the last moment, you put both forearms behind the yoke, link hands, and pull as hard as you can. This causes the aircraft to skim the surface knocking down buildings, trees, mounds of dirt, etc. before finally coming to a stop.

If you only had one handgrip you couldn't use both arms to pull and you would die.

I learned this from the movies.
 
Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe said:
The real reason:
When your engine quits, you lose control and the airplane goes into a dive - at the last moment, you put both forearms behind the yoke, link hands, and pull as hard as you can. This causes the aircraft to skim the surface knocking down buildings, trees, mounds of dirt, etc. before finally coming to a stop.

If you only had one handgrip you couldn't use both arms to pull and you would die.

I learned this from the movies.
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The movies or willie coyote?
 
Stan Cooper said:
I'm surprised nobody has mentioned that frequently you need to use the hand you normally use on the control wheel (e.g. your left hand on the control wheel and right hand on throttle/mixture) to reach into the left side panel pocket for a checklist, POH, chart, etc., and use the right hand on the control wheel.

With a control stick between your legs you can use either hand seamlessly. o_O
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No, those are on my kneeboard, and I flip pages with my right hand.
 
So you can grip the yoke with both hands and do your best Steve McQueen impression: "We're alone now baby, get me up, get me up."
 
Salty said:
Not the answer I was expecting from you considering your ban history.
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Don't know what you mean bringing my ban history up,,but whatever. My comment was two hands, one was a backup for the other. I don't what you interpreted that to be but that's what I meant. :rolleyes:
 
It’s a desperate attempt by the other manufacturers to separate themselves from the single handed side stick; “two handles on each yoke, twice as many as the Cirrus!” So far it hasn’t helped sales as much as projected by their marketing departments.
 
mscard88 said:
Don't know what you mean bringing my ban history up,,but whatever. My comment was two hands, one was a backup for the other. I don't what you interpreted that to be but that's what I meant. :rolleyes:
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I didn’t mean anything negative. Just teasing. Why do we have two hands? Think about it. I know you have a better answer. ;)
 
You can get a one handed yoke from Eddie Trimmer in Willow Alaska if you want one.
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Clip4 said:
Because all pilots are not right handed.
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Pedantically, it's "because not all pilots are right handed."

Your statement reads literally that no pilot is right handed.

So sez a right handed person who IS a pilot.
 
Ravioli said:
Pedantically, it's "because not all pilots are right handed."

Your statement reads literally that no pilot is right handed.

So sez a right handed person who IS a pilot.
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Really, which hand do you keep in the yoke? Lol
 
Salty said:
I didn’t mean anything negative. Just teasing. Why do we have two hands? Think about it. I know you have a better answer. ;)
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Ok, just didn't get your comment. I'm too tired to think about it though, still don't get it. :(
 
Stan Cooper said:
That kneeboard must be really loaded.
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Nope. My vintage Owners Manual is less than a hundred pages including introduction, tabke of contents and performance charts. My Emergency Section is the front and back of a single sheet, 2 whole pages.

I forget exactly how long my kneeboard checklists are, call it 16 pages including title page and performance charts (to reduce wear and tear on my old, fragile, browning Owners Manual booklet).

An example: "In case of engine fire, turn cabin heater off." That's it; no procedures, no checklists, nothing about shutting off fuel, closing cabin air vents (the intakes are immediately behind the firewall), pitching for best glide . . . Makes for an easy-to-manage kneeboard.
 
Why do yokes have dual handgrips?

So you might be tempted to use both hands, making it easier for the CFI in the right seat to cause (or simulate) an engine failure. :p
 
Stickman said:
You can get a one handed yoke from Eddie Trimmer in Willow Alaska if you want one.
View attachment 64157
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I can get two hands on that. Heck the crossbar looks a lot more comfortable than that straight up and down thing in the middle anyway.

One of my old CFIs flies with a hand on top of the yoke where he can easily reach over and grab the tube going into the panel in Cessnas. I have only ever seen him grab the actual yoke handles a couple of times.

He makes use of trim very effectively and usually can release the whole yoke to answer a radio call with his index finger on the top of whichever yoke horn has the PTT on it.

But maneuvering, his hand is draped over the yoke center, not on a horn at all.
 
Apropos all that, from the mark 09:38 onwards

 
zaitcev said:
Apropos all that, from the mark 09:38 onwards

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That was almost as good as the Iron Eagle race...

... with a car commercial slapped in the center of it. LOL.

(That is not a compliment. Hahahaha.)

Now they just need a cassette player with commentary from soke doofus perfectly timed for the course, and they’ve got it! :)
 
Clip4 said:
Because all pilots are not right handed.
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As a lefty, I can assure you that I fly with the same hands on the controls as a righty. Being a lefty doesn't change anything when flying.
 
Clip4 said:
Really, which hand do you keep in the yoke? Lol
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If I'm in the left seat, left hand. Right seat, right hand.

In the RV, technically I guess none, since there isn't a yoke.

Perhaps it's best to say we use the outboard hand for directional control and the inboard hand for other control inputs.
 
Regardless of why, one of mine was looking so bad I prepped it for painting yesterday. Here's post bead-blasting:

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Stan Cooper said:
Symmetry.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/symmetry
Two eyes, two ears, two arms, two legs, two wings...
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Two wings? What about a monoplane? Does a monoplane have two wings, or would that make it a biplane? Or is a biplane really a quadplane by your reasoning?

The reason we have two hands is because it's pretty hard to open a beer with one hand. Two legs, because hopping around with an open beer is just going to waste a lot of beer. Two ears so you can hear from all directions when someone says, "Anyone need a beer?" Two eyes so that they can get crossed up after too many beers. You can't cross one eye. (But you can dot it.) Notice there is only one mouth, and all that cold beer.... I see a flaw.
 
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