The steering system that always confuses me is pedals on a plane.
My earliest "driving" experience was racing down a hill near my house on
a home-made cart with roller-skate wheels (a full roller-skate on each
corner -- the Tyrrell 6-wheeler had nothing on us!). We soon found that
the traditional "loop of string" method of steering a front axle wasn't
very accurate, so instead we steered with our feet directly on the axle.
It was a steep hill, with a sharp bend at the bottom, and even though
there wasn't any power or brakes, I knew how to drift around a corner by
about the age of 10 (using body weight to get the balance right). But
it is now hard-wired into my brain that in order to turn right, I push
with my left foot... which doesn't work very well in a plane!
Yes, that could get you into hot water. Or, in my case, into very cold
water: dinghy sailing in the Forth is my sport, with my wife crewing :-)
Some other nonsense related to this thread:
- There is a chap that does the rounds of various fairgrounds in Dorset
who has a bicycle with the steering reversed and the direction of
pedalling reversed. He lets other people try it... and of course they
always fall straight off.
- I once saw an army jeep with *full* dual controls (aircraft style).
The owners used to take turns driving... but without having to stop to
change over. I'm not aware of them ever having been stopped by the
police, but it could be interesting if they both claimed not to be
driving!
--
Russell Whitworth
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