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Muscle Memory

Gemini Sparkle

Key Takeaways:

  • A pilot practicing right-seat flying for a CFI checkride instinctively made incorrect control inputs during a challenging landing, leading to a hard touchdown.
  • Years of flying from the left seat resulted in muscle memory causing the pilot to apply control inputs as if in the left seat, despite being in the right.
  • The incident underscores the powerful influence of muscle memory and the "law of primacy" on pilot actions, particularly when adapting to a new flying position.
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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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