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Muscle Memory

Gemini Sparkle

Key Takeaways:

  • Preparing for a CFI checkride, the author, accustomed to flying from the left seat, was practicing from the right seat during demo flights.
  • During a gusty landing from the right seat, the author instinctively made control inputs (pulling with the left hand, pushing with the right) as if in the left seat, resulting in an incorrect action and a hard landing.
  • The incident highlighted the powerful influence of deeply ingrained muscle memory and the "law of primacy" when transitioning control positions, leading to an inadvertent error despite extensive practice.
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As my initial CFI checkride approached, I had been spending a lot of time in an airplane’s right seat, unlearning several years of flying from the left one. 

One bright Saturday morning, my flying club was giving demo rides to prospective members, sort of a “you can learn to fly, too” event for professionals. I loaded three of them into a Skyhawk and blasted off for a nearby airport with me in the right seat, a new-member prospect in the left and two more candidates in the back. We flew to the other airport, landed and shut down.

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