Stick vs. Yoke

Question:  I'm curious - do the Boeing yoke and/or the Airbus joystick give tactile feedback to tell you how much stress you're putting on the plane?  I'm thinking of the turbulence crash near LaGuardia where the Airbus "wagged its tail off."

Ray Lampe,Templeton, MA 
 
Answer:  One of the more common questions I receive is regarding the difference in "feel" for a pilot between the traditional yoke and column arrange favored by most aircraft manufacturers compare with Airbus's sidestick.

From a comfort standpoint, the sidestick wins hands down, no contest, next question please.  Not having that big yoke right in front of you results in unprecedented luxurious legroom and comfort for the pilot, not to mention those handy little tray tables we can fold out just like the passengers can, for eating or using for other stuff.  It's the only airplane I've ever flown that allowed me to cross my legs if I wanted to while flying (our feet are only required to be on the rudder up to 10,000 feet).

Here's an interesting note:  You'd think, just like the passengers, we'd be required to stow those tray tables for takeoff and landing, but surprisingly, there is no such requirement and some pilots like them open with whatever charts they want right there for reference.  I always stowed my table for takeoff and landing, however, preferring to keep my reference material to the side and having nothing in front of me, but many of my first officers did.

Having said all that, a casual observation on my part tells me probably the majority of pilots in this country do not prefer Airbus, finding it unnecessarily complex and complicated when compared with other manufacturers' planes, such as Boeing.  There is no argument regarding the extra comfort Airbus provides, however.

To answer your question specifically, the stick's movements have little to do with tactile feel, although there is some artificial feel built in during certain phases of flight.  For instance, when we're about to land and the plane (Airbus) in the "landing mode," the stick will need some back pressure from the pilot just as is needed when flying with a traditional yoke.  This is done deliberately to make it feel more natural to the pilot.

At other times, however, there is little comparison between the pressures we feel moving a sidestick when compared to manipulating a yoke.  In fact, pilots must take care to avoid  over controlling.

Boeing builds in the correct feel for the pilot throughout all phases of flight, however, and although I got very used to flying the Airbus with its sidestick, many pilots just don't seem quite at home with it, or simply don't like the fact that moving the stick doesn't correlate with regard to feel compared with what they're used to.  Any "fly by wire" airplane, where the movement of the stick or yoke sends signals to computers which direct the control surfaces rather than using cables to control them directly, requires artificial feel for the pilot. 
Regarding the accident where the pilot is alleged to have over-controlled and moved the rudder full deflection, that's really a different subject.  Generally, pilots to not make any inputs to the rudder at all once airborne, and make turns instead with the yoke or stick. The rudder is automatically coordinated without any help from the pilot.

So his actions, if the allegations are indeed correct, would have likely had a devastating effect no matter what type of aircraft he was flying.  It was never determined, to my knowledge, why that pilot reacted the way he did, but it was not a typical or appropriate action based upon the accident reports.  It's always a very uncomfortable thing to judge another pilot and it is not my intent to do so here, but I did want to point out that when in flight, the rudders are controlled automatically and not by the pilot, and that is true of even some very small private planes all the way up to the most sophisticated.