[Question] Hand on the throttle at ALL TIMES?

TrustMeI'maPilot said:
Because once you rotate, there is absolutely no need to keep a hand on the throttle. It's what, maybe a one second difference in reaction time between having a hand on vs having your hand somewhere else. What happens if the throttle creeps out while tuning a radio, or grabbing a chart? The reaction would be the same as having your hand in your lap.
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Having actually had a throttle back out close the ground on takeoff, I guess I'll disagree with you on there being no need for it once you rotate.

And why once you rotate? Why not put it forward for the takeoff roll and take you hand off then? If you are not worried about reaction time, there's no need for hand on the throttle before rotation either.
 
MidlifeFlyer said:
Having actually had a throttle back out close the ground on takeoff, I guess I'll disagree with you on there being no need for it once you rotate.

And why once you rotate? Why not put it forward for the takeoff roll and take you hand off then? If you are not worried about reaction time, there's no need for hand on the throttle before rotation either.
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Well I would say the reaction time is that important on the takeoff roll, especially as you get into larger planes and short runways. So teaching it on the ground as primacy translates down the road.

That said, I may have come on strong as I don't literally mean right after rotation. I pretty much agree with you. I was responding to the notion of having your hand on them at ALL times as a primary student.

Personally in a single, I keep it on until I feel comfortable. That might be 50ft, it might be 300ft, it depends on many factors like terrain or work load, and it's a more in the moment feel for me. I find it ridiculous to say, "you must have it on at all times", or, "have it on to 1000ft every time". Let's use some common sense here.
 
kingck said:
so i have a question retaining to flight training ive gone through a few CFI's now and ive noticed one thing that grinds the hell out of my gears some of the CFI's tell me i have to keep one hand on the throttle the ENTIRE flights, now sure i get the one hand on the throttle rule for landings/takeoffs but in level cruise?! anyone else here have a CFI do something similar or if any of you are CFI care to shine some light on this situation.
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Anytime anyone tells you to do something all the time, be very, very wary. Including now. ;)
 
When I say at all times, I don't mean for an hour cross country. I guess every is taking this literally.
 
TrustMeI'maPilot said:
So now you've taught this silly procedure to your student, who if they become a CFI, will teach it to their student, and on and on. This is why we have these ridiculous wives tales like oversquare, flying on step, fear of LOP, etc... that seem perpetuate on forever.
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It all depends on the aircraft you are flying/teaching in really and specifically what flight regime you're in. There's not an either/or answer.

So what if a dude keeps his hands on the throttle while climbing out... so what if he doesn't? Some aircraft have different throttle hygiene requirements (radial, turbo, normally aspirated, powerful jet,etc). The important thing is really to keep everything in the cross check while keeping good SA on what's going on outside the cockpit.

It's not a bad idea to have your hand on the throttle until you're clean... that way you won't over speed the gear, should they not retract or whatever the issue is.

Having said that... look at that crash in SFO, they had auto-throttles and didn't touch the throttles or really know where they were..... resulting in the crash (or that's what I've read anyways).

Bottom line, being dogmatic one way or the other just doesn't seem to make sense.
 
///AMG said:
above 500' AGL, I will take my hands off the controls, sit on them for a good 10-15 mins, and then I will hold the throttles with my right hand, and the stick with my left. It's like I'm not even flying because I can't feel my hands. That and reversing them is a lot like writing with the wrong hand. Lots of fun
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So that's what Hornet pilots do! These GA pilots wouldn't have a clue...
 
ryan1234 said:
It all depends on the aircraft you are flying/teaching in really and specifically what flight regime you're in. There's not an either/or answer.

So what if a dude keeps his hands on the throttle while climbing out... so what if he doesn't? Some aircraft have different throttle hygiene requirements (radial, turbo, normally aspirated, powerful jet,etc). The important thing is really to keep everything in the cross check while keeping good SA on what's going on outside the cockpit.

It's not a bad idea to have your hand on the throttle until you're clean... that way you won't over speed the gear, should they not retract or whatever the issue is.

Having said that... look at that crash in SFO, they had auto-throttles and didn't touch the throttles or really know where they were..... resulting in the crash (or that's what I've read anyways).

Bottom line, being dogmatic one way or the other just doesn't seem to make sense.
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Of course there are certain regimes of flight that make more sense to have your hand near or on the throttle. Hell, sometimes I rest my hand on them during cruise. What I am against is giving a student pilot a hard criteria for when to have them there.

Think about most students, they take their instructors word as god. When their instructor tells them to keep their hand on the throttle, they're going to worry about taking it off. They're going to think twice about doing it to accomplish things like a checklist or radios, etc.. How does that help the learning process?

Again I'm advocating using some common sense, let's let the student learn. He or she will figure out on their own where they want their hand, probably by screwing up somehow.

I might be transposing my pet peeve with a lot of CFI's to this situation. I feel a lot of instructors are insecure and won't let their student push the envelope or make mistakes (within the plane's envelope of course) so they know not to do it again. And also teaching something as gospel without having a valid reason behind it.
 
Once I'm out of the "don't hit stuff" zone I sit on both hands until they go numb. When I put them back on the controls it feels like someone else is flying.....



Man, I haven't been in here in a while. Good to see threads like this still going 5+ pages!
 
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