In many of Mentour’s videos that include the cockpit, the trim wheels* always look like they’re rotating in opposite directions, which makes no sense. You can see it in this video at around 2:00 in How to land an Aircraft without engines!! Cockpit video - YouTube
Thanks to all the pilots out there who’ve answered my questions about the fascinating (to me, at least) world of aviation.
*I’m referring to the large black wheels on either side of the central console, next to the throttle. You can hear a noticeable whirring when they spin.
I don’t have an answer for you, but I’m almost positive he’s done a video on them. If you can dig that up, he probably explains it (in great detail).
Update, yes, he does have a video, but I noticed something in it and went back and looked at the video in the OP.
They’re not spinning in opposite directions, the white lines painted on them just aren’t in the same spot on each one. Between that, and how fast they move around, it gives the illusion of them going in opposite directions.
Rewatch your video now knowing they’re spinning in the same direction, but the lines aren’t in sync. It’s easiest to tell when they start or stop spinning.
If you pause the video and then go through frame-by-frame (use the comma and period keys on a pc, not sure about phones or tablets) you can see that they rotate in the same direction. I think the recoil when they stop may be enhancing the illusion.
Yep, it’s just an illusion. Sometimes the framerate of a camera will sync up with rotating objects in such a way so as to make them appear to be rotating at a different speed or even backwards. You can often see this on stock footage of expressways where the cars are going 70mph forward while their wheels slowly spin in reverse!
Okay, the framestep play revealed the illusion. It’s the misalignment of those bands. You expect the wheels to be in the same position so when they aren’t it looks like they’re counter-rotating.
Also, you can see the band on the left wheel when it’s in the rear lower quadrant which makes it look like it’s going away even though it’s actually coming towards you when they’re spinning at full speed. You get a glimpse of white moving towards top of shot and your brain interprets that as ‘band is on top of wheel and wheel is spinning away from me’.