Quote:
Originally Posted by Tcoat
Depending if down or up shifting the hand position may change a bit but the 3 basic ways I handle the shifter are (positions slightly exaggerated for pic clarity):
No!
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Caspeed
Good post Tcoat. Often the problem is the "Death Grip" people use when shifting.
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When I was learning to fly (many years ago now), I was having a lot of trouble during touch-and-goes in a gusty Florida crosswind, primarily because I was terrified. My instructor let me bounce around on the runway and get back airborne, then said, "You're white-knuckling the yoke. Relax and try flying with a loose grip."
Everything
immediately smoothed out. That "death grip" was overriding some of the feedback from the controls and was making it nearly impossible to respond to what the plane was telling me. I realized my neck and shoulders were also really tense, and the tension in my entire body was ending up in that grip on the yoke. Since it's next to impossible for your body to respond quickly and precisely when it's full of tension, I was always a moment behind the crosswind gusts and was being blown all over the place.
During the rest of that two hour session, I would find myself without very good control of the aircraft and would realize I was tensing up again. If I made a conscious effort to relax my neck, shoulders and grip on the yoke, I no longer had to fight the plane. It became sort of an extension of me, like I was sort of surfing those gusts myself.
Driving a high-feedback vehicle like this one is similar, including shifting. If you white-knuckle the shifter, you'll mute the feedback from the car and won't be able to respond smoothly and precisely. Same goes for the wheel. You feel much more of what the car is telling you if you relax and stay loose and smooth with your movements.