# Does flying a plane take significant physical effort? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 19, 2013, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-flying-a-plane-take-significant-physical-effort/663927 "2013-07-19T12:13:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2013, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-flying-a-plane-take-significant-physical-effort/663927/21 "2013-07-22T19:14:16Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > Those guys were just goddamned amazing. I’ve heard that when they took the stage at a meeting of their peers, they got a solid 15-minute standing ovation. So it’s not just a civilian impression. ---
**Author:** ![JerrySTL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e274bd/32.png) [@JerrySTL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JerrySTL)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2013, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-flying-a-plane-take-significant-physical-effort/663927/22 "2013-07-22T19:16:11Z")
> [@Keeve](#): > > My WAG is that it was probably true at some point in time. Have you ever driven a car that didn’t have power steering? That kind of physical effort. And maybe that’s still the case on some tiny one-man planes. But an MD-80? (For non-aviation types, like me, check out the photo on [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MD-80).) Absolutely ridiculous to think that the pilot puts manual effort into any of that. No human could do it. I must say that you are wrong. I worked on the DC-9 as a mechanic and have some knowledge of the MD-80. Manual effort is what flys the aircraft for the most part. Neither has hydraulic primary flight controls - with one exception. The elevator has a hydraulic actuator which will slam the elevator into a full down position. This is only done in an emergency when the aircraft is about to stall. Otherwise the primary flight controls are operated manually by moving small tabs on the end of the flight controls. You turn the yoke to the left which moves the left aileron tab down; which then moves the left aileron up; which moves the wing down. Of course the right aileron moved the opposite way. There are also electric motor driven trim tabs, but they really aren’t used to turn the aircraft very sharply. They are mostly to trim an imbalance plus used by the autopilot system. Many of the secondary flight controls are hydraulic such as the spoilers, flaps, and slats. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-flying-a-plane-take-significant-physical-effort/663927/23 "2013-07-23T04:23:28Z")
> [@BlakeTyner](#): > > Going back to the Air France flight, because of the unreliable airspeed due to pitot icing, the computer took the aircraft from “normal” law to “alternate” law, but as I understand it, this was not indicated to the crew in any way other than a small text message on one of the multi-display screens. No, a conspicuous alarm sounded (duration 2.2 seconds). > [@](#): > > Apparently, due to poor CRM, ‘tunnel vision,’ a lack of understanding of the software’s status, and perhaps not trusting the instruments, the pilot stalled that aircraft and then fell all the way to the ocean while holding the yoke all the way back, not realizing he was stalled. Despite a synthesized voice alarm that blared out the word “Stall” a total of 75 (!) times before the plane hit the water. ---
**Author:** ![BlakeTyner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@BlakeTyner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlakeTyner)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-flying-a-plane-take-significant-physical-effort/663927/24 "2013-07-23T05:23:34Z")
> [@Xema](#): > > No, a conspicuous alarm sounded (duration 2.2 seconds). I stand corrected. Did they ever acknowledge it, or was it one more thing they either didn’t hear or were too busy/confused to understand? It’s been a while since I read the accident report. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-flying-a-plane-take-significant-physical-effort/663927/25 "2013-07-23T14:32:11Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > IIUC, airstream characteristics change when a plane begins to stall, causing elevators to vibrate and, when pilot controls the elevators mechanically, that will cause the control stick to vibrate. **On modern airplanes, the control stick is made to shake artificially when, in an old airplane it _would_ have been shaking due to the mechanics**. > > Are there other examples of such artifical reversions done deliberately? Force-feedback video game controllers. In effect, there really isn’t any difference between a force-feedback video game controller and this except what it is wired to. ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-flying-a-plane-take-significant-physical-effort/663927/26 "2013-07-23T18:01:27Z")
Back to the OP’s original question: can you say: Ford trimotor PBY C-46 B-29 Now add a bit of turbulance [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-flying-a-plane-take-significant-physical-effort/663927.md?page=1)