>>>>> On Tue, 19 Jan 93 10:14:38 CST, phile@pwcs.stpaul.gov said:
phile> James Howard writes >
>if you tried to turn left, the car went to the right.
>If you tried to turn right, you wound up in the flowers to your left.
phile> My dad did the same thing with a power boat. He wound the
phile> cable round the drum on the steering column the wrong way. It
phile> amazes me that he didn't find this out until he was underway.
It doesn't amaze me. I have read several post-crash reports of
aircraft whose control surfaces were improperly rigged. The worst
ones were where aileron action was reversed -- what you thought would
raise the left wingtip will lower it, and so on. One of these was
done by the Piper *factory* and involved the chief test pilot, if I
remember right.
So it's not too amazing that someone might improperly assemble a
vehicles controls and not notice until too late. Unfortunatly with an
aircraft it often means a possibly fatal crash; with a car or boat you
can at least cut the power and get a tow...
That's why I was taught to always check control actions before
takeoff: when I turn the yoke *left* make sure that the *left* aileron
comes up AND THE RIGHT ONE GOES DOWN!!!
I even usually do it!
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