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In this video taken from this question, the video shows the pilot using one hand on the yoke and one hand on something else (perhaps the throttle? I'm not a pilot). Is it normal to do landings with one hand?

Bianfable
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Ross Presser
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    Many pilots only use two fingers. It gives you much better control for small changes. When landing in smooth air you can set the power and trim then barely touch the yoke until the roundout. In cruise flight, you use rudder and aileron trim so that the airplane bascially flies itself with only tiny changes required. If the air is turbulent, you my need a tighter grip on the yoke, but even then you don’t need two hands. – JScarry Sep 22 '20 at 20:17
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    @JScarry this should be an answer, comments are temporary and not for answers – CGCampbell Sep 23 '20 at 10:29
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    What I find more suprising then what you are asking is: 1-releasing the yoke when still over 100 kts... (at 1:25) What about lateral control ? Seems to be quite windy. 2-exiting runway over 40 kt (70 km/h) (1:40). Isn't that a bit fast ? – kebs Sep 23 '20 at 12:17
  • @GCCampbell This is my opinion, not based on any data or official sources so it doesn’t qualify as an answer. – JScarry Sep 23 '20 at 15:25
  • How many people do you know who, when driving a car, always keep both hands at 10 and 2 on the steering wheel like they teach in driving school? It's not all that different, really. – Darrel Hoffman Sep 23 '20 at 17:35
  • @kebs; 40kts runway exit isn't that bad, lots of runways are built to facilitate – bjelleklang Sep 23 '20 at 17:57
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    Your question isn't absurd: during a brief experience with student pilothood, I can recall I felt uneasy about guiding a C152's climbout exclusively with my weaker left hand. But experienced pilots get used to both doing so and its necessity given the right hand's other jobs, additionally the B737 in your example has hydraulic controls anyway. – Chris Stratton Sep 23 '20 at 18:33
  • Re "How many people do you know who, when driving a car, always keep both hands at 10 and 2 on the steering wheel like they teach in driving school?" -- that's dangerous. The car-driver system is dynamically unstable with your hands above the center of the steering wheel. Easy to demonstrate while driving with a single hand on the wheel -- put one hand on the top of the wheel and give a sudden sideways pulse. Then put one hand on the bottom of the wheel and give a sudden sideways pulse. The car-driver system is clearly dynamically unstable in the former situation but not the latter. – quiet flyer Sep 23 '20 at 19:05
  • I have to admit I'm quite surprised at the speed and amplitude of the movements of the pilot on the yoke here. It was my impression that controlling and aircraft required a much "lighter touch" on the controls, and if I had seen this sequence in a movie I would have dismissed that as completely bogus. – jcaron Sep 25 '20 at 09:47
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    @jcaron an answer on the linked question points out that this is a low speed landing in gusty conditions; the control surfaces have a smaller effect and thus more amplitude and rapidity is required to counter the gusts. – Ross Presser Sep 25 '20 at 16:01

4 Answers4

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It is absolutely normal, in fact it's rare for a pilot to have more than one hand on the yoke at any one time as it isn't required. Movies will often show pilots manhandling yokes with two hands, but that's just Hollywood. The only time two hands is required is when extra strength is needed on the controls, for instance a hydraulic failure.

When landing a pilot will have one hand on the yoke (or stick) and one hand on the throttle, as throttle adjustments are needed to maintain the correct glide angle and initiate a go-around if required.

GdD
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  • The only time I can remember a movie having both hands on the yoke is when they are trying to pull up to not crash something. i.e. Air Force One, Bond movies, Die Hard – DKNguyen Sep 22 '20 at 18:25
  • The thinking is 2 hands are better than one I suppose. Add the matrix, 2 hands on the cyclic. And Airplane of course ;) – GdD Sep 22 '20 at 18:27
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    Oh, there's Independence Day when they are flying the alien fighter. – DKNguyen Sep 22 '20 at 20:23
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In many many aircraft, from gliders and recreational planes to fighter jets and the whole Airbus fleet beyond the A300/A310 (meaning a very sizable chunk of the airline industry), control surfaces are moved using a stick and not a yoke; in such cases, using two hands is often not even an option.

Also, you often need your other hand for something else (throttle in powered aircraft, brakes in gliders).

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Martin Argerami
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    I never laid hands on a yoke, but one difference to a stick is obvious: the yoke can be turned as well as moved forwards/backwards, and with one hand it seems (from an outsider's perspective) that you could inadvertedly move it forward or backward while trying to turn it, and vice versa. – rob74 Sep 23 '20 at 18:48
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    Little would preclude occasionally using one hand over the other on a center stick if it were actually needed (eg a WW2 fighter might in extreme cases see control forces of 70-90 pounds or more) though typically in modern aviation it would not be. On a sidestick that obviously doesn't work, but those are mostly fly by wire aircraft that would never have large control forces. – Chris Stratton Sep 23 '20 at 18:54
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    Why is using two hands on a center stick not an option? I have many times gently added a second hand on the center stick of a glider to help reduce a tendency toward overcontrol or oscillations, including just yesterday. PS saving one hand to hold a camera out the window for a selfie is not mandatory. – quiet flyer Sep 23 '20 at 18:58
  • @rob74 If the plane is trimmed correctly, there will be resistance to moving the yoke (or stick) forward or backward. Doing so accidentally may be an issue for student pilots used to a car steering wheel that can’t move in that axis, but you adapt surprisingly quickly. It is much harder to unlearn using the wheel to turn on the ground. – StephenS Sep 23 '20 at 19:00
  • @rob74: it's one of the first things you learn when you start training. Takes a bit of practice for some, but it's not really hard. After a while, you don't even think about it. – Martin Argerami Sep 23 '20 at 19:06
  • @quietflyer: the question asks specifically about landing. In a glider, your left hand would be on the brakes. Personally, in more than 900 hours in gliders I only recall using both hands once, when a very rusty pilot was "stirring the pot" so much in the tow that I just grabbed the stick to stop him. As for your PS: in the old days of competition we had to actually take pictures with our left hand while putting the glider in a 90-degree bank. Besides I flew several hundred hours in flapped competition gliders, where the left hand was always on the flaps lever. – Martin Argerami Sep 23 '20 at 19:12
  • @rob74 Do any planes use a three-way stick where you can twist it? – DKNguyen Sep 23 '20 at 20:56
  • @DKNguyen genuinely curious, what are you getting at here? – Kirk Woll Sep 24 '20 at 00:19
  • @KirkWoll Just that the claim of risk of cross-axis movement on a yoke but not a stick would not be true if three-axis sticks were used. I do not know if they are or not. – DKNguyen Sep 24 '20 at 01:23
  • @DKNguyen what you have there is fodder for a whole new question. Please ask it! – FreeMan Sep 24 '20 at 13:19
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    1) Ohhh... the stars pattern on the co-pilot seat! 2) How in the world did that glider pilot get his arm stuck out through that tiny opening? It looks like he'd need 3 elbows! – FreeMan Sep 24 '20 at 13:22
  • @FreeMan Is it that significant? o.0 – DKNguyen Sep 24 '20 at 13:30
  • @DKNguyen presuming you're following up to my comment about the 3-way stick, yes, it's always good to ask new questions as a new question. Follow-up and clarification are appropriate in comments, but yours seems to be a different question, to me, at least. If you're asking about my comment on the seat fabric, I was just being snarky. ;) – FreeMan Sep 24 '20 at 13:51
  • @quietflyer You can't hold the Airbus flight control stick with two hands because it's not in the center of the pilot's body, it's off to one side. Which is why it's called the "side stick". – zymhan Sep 24 '20 at 20:13
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Yes, it is normal, and, in most cases, necessary. Control of he throttle is just as critical in such a low speed, low power setting environment as control of the control-surfaces. You need a hand on both. Also, using two hands on the yoke can tend to cause you to over-control the aircraft.

Dean F.
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Pilot here.

When I learned, I was actively taught to fly one handed, and even then not 1 hand, but a couple of fingers and a thumb. A death grip on the yoke leads to over corrections.

During T&O, your right hand is usually glued to the throttle. It only took my instructor pulling the throttle a couple of times on me during approach/takeoff to learn THAT one.

Left hand - index, middle, thumb on yoke (PTT, electric trim, etc) Right hand - everything else - throttle, flaps, trim.

Joe Blow
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  • All true. But that doesn't mean flying with the left hand alone may not initially make a student pilot feel uneasy until they become used to it, and its necessity. – Chris Stratton Sep 23 '20 at 18:36
  • @ChrisStratton, it took me a while to get comfortable landing on the centre line rather than keeping to the right of it. – Ray Butterworth Sep 23 '20 at 21:10