Berni,

 

1. Never have a pilot in the right seat when you become incapacitated.

 

2. I am also a left hander that has survived in a right handed world.  I.E. I am forced to tune radios with my right hand.  You are better than those right handers that always take the easy path.

 

3. People known as flight instructors of any handedness fly many hours from the right seat and in most airplanes that means the center mounted throttle is to their left whilst the stick in is their right.  I know one fellow that flies his Arrow from the right seat because he is more comfortable with that configuration - instrument viewing parallax problems aside (maybe he is left eye dominant). 

 

4.  Expand your horizons and fly her as she is until you get the itch to modify further.

 

Grayhawk

 

 

Tom brings up a very a very interesting point in his response...why do I want to move the throttle and mixture controls to the center?  In response to his question, I have quite a few (hundreds) hours of center stick time in Lancair 320s and 360s.  In all of those hours the throttle, mixture and prop were always in the center.  I also have about 100 hours in a Lancair ES and about 250 in a Lancair IV.  I regularly (weekly) fly a Cirrus.  Because of Tom's message I am realizing that the reason I want to change is because the center location is what I have always flown...it is what I am accustomed to.  Finally, I am left handed.  I am now thinking I should try to get out of my comfort zone and try to learn to fly the airplane with the controls where they are.  Thoughts??

What about if flying with another pilot in the right seat (a very common occurrence for me) that would be uncomfortable with the inability to access the throttle in the event I were suddenly incapacitated?  Make sense?

Sent from my iPad
Berni Breen
Bbreen@cableone.net

On Sep 20, 2011, at 6:05 PM, Tom Thibault <tthibaultsprint@earthlink.net> wrote:

> Before you do anything, are the left side controls levers or push-pull knobs.  The levers can cause a direction reversal by virture of whether the cables attach above or below the pivot.  If the sense of the push-pull is reversed, then this has been accommodated in the engine compartment such that the throttle, mixture and prop all work correctly.  This will mean extra work to put back to "conventional".
>
> Have you ever flown a stick before?  If so, you know that left hand engine controls are "conventional".  As long as the stick has the flaps and trim controls on it, then why wouldn't a right hander not prefer left hand engine controls?
>
> Maybe room for your knees is the driver.  If so, you probably need to do it.
>
> Look at the cable ends to see if they terminate in a permanent fitting or they are bare wire captured in a B-nut.  Six feet will be enough for bare wire, but the fitting type requires a pretty close measurement after you determine the route and have passed some long stiff wire through to the termination point.
>
> Good luck, and maybe I'll take the throw away parts off your hands.  I have always wanted left hand controls.
>
> Tom Thibault
> LNC2 900 Hours
>
> Berni wrote:
>
> I just bought a flying Lancair 360 on Saturday.  After flying it home on a 700 mile cross country flight I am certain that the first thing I want to do is to move the throttle and mixture controls from their current location on the left side of the airplane to the conventional center location.  The airplane has a Lycoming IO360.  I am looking for guidance on buying the best control cables and the length needed.
>
> I am going to start this project in the next couple of days and would like to get ahead of the curve by acquiring parts in advance.  Is it possible for me to order throttle control and mixture control cables without taking physical measurements?  Is there a standard length? 
>
> If there are gotchas that I might encounter, please let me know.
>
>
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