Question:
Why do airplanes have two steering wheels?
WHOAITSAWOLF!
2012-02-07 13:22:56 UTC
Just wondering :P
Eight answers:
Techwing
2012-02-08 11:21:40 UTC
Large commercial airliners require two pilots, in order to share the considerable workload that exists in certain phases of flight, and to allow for the possibility of one pilot becoming incapacitated (they can be flown by a single pilot in an emergency).



Small private aircraft have two steering wheels (yokes) to allow two people to share flying duties, and in many cases to allow for pilot instruction, with an instructor on one side and a student pilot on the other.



Having two pilot positions is somewhat of a tradition in aviation, for the safety of redundancy. Some aircraft have only one set of controls, though, such as many military fighter jets and some very small and experimental aircraft.
Warbird Pilot
2012-02-07 15:51:07 UTC
They don't, they have two yokes. One for the Pilot in Command and one for the co-pilot. Only certain small General Aviation aircraft (the early Beechcraft Bonanza specifically) had a "throw-over" control yoke that could be switched from side to side.
2012-02-07 13:56:28 UTC
Wow.



It's for numerous purposes. If one pilot becomes unable to operate the plane, the other can take over. Also, the pilots switch flying the plane (when it's not on autopilot), and it's a lot easier to switch if you don't have to change seats. It also makes training pilots safer and easier.
mon
2017-02-24 08:50:55 UTC
2 yokes (steerage wheels) enable the 2d pilot to take over for the duration of flights so the command pilot can take a smash. you spot this on commercial airliners. Having 2 yokes helps user-friendly takeover of piloting with no need to arise and alter seats or flow by using a convoluted transition. the two pilots can not administration the airplane concurrently - the administration is taken from the two factor yet no longer the two on the comparable time - till in a dire emergency. The controls are set up so as that the two pilot can get right of entry to all controls. commercial airliners are designed to have 2 pilots - the assumption of the two pilots is to have a backup interior the progression of an emergency. yet it extremely is not any longer the clarification at the back of the twin controls - it is so as that the two pilots can get right of entry to controls without interruption of the flight - the two for convenience, or interior the progression of an emergency. there is one pilot in command - the two pilots could be the two qualified, with one specified as being in cost.
2012-02-07 13:24:53 UTC
For the co pilot when they switch they cant just say "ok in 3 lets switch seats.
Dances With Mops 2 - Mop Bucket Boogaloo
2012-02-07 13:24:20 UTC
So one pilot can take over if something happens to the other one.
Owenc
2012-02-07 15:44:41 UTC
Its known as dual controls and it's incase one pilot becomes I'll etc.
2012-02-08 09:24:10 UTC
They are called yokes!


This content was originally posted on Y! Answers, a Q&A website that shut down in 2021.
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