Side sticks are located on both sides of the cockpit and allow pilots to perform roll and pitch movements.
They are spring loaded and return to neutral position when no force is applied. If the autopilot is engaged, the side sticks are locked in the neutral position with a locking mechanism.
When a certain amount of force is applied to the side stick while the autopilot is engaged, the autopilot is disanged, the lock mechanism is released and a signal is sent to the related computers.
There are two push button switches on the side stick. The push-to-talk switch in front of them and a red side stick priority switch. The red button allows a pilot to takeover the side stick firstly during the operation.
If a pilot moves the side sitck, this movement is converted into data and added to the system. If two pilots move the side sticks in the same or opposite direction, both movements are added algebraically.
The addition is limited to single-stick maximum deflection. If two side sticks send information at the same time, two “SIDE STICK PRIORITY” come on in green on the glareshield’s the right and left side and a “DUAL INPUT” voice message is given.
A pilot can deactivate the other side stick by pressing the red button on his controller and take over all control. It is recommended to press the red button for more than 40 seconds to maintain this priority.
In addition, a deactivated side stick can be activated in any time by pressing the red button again. When both buttons are pressed at the same time, priority will be on the side that pressed the button last.
When a side stick takes over all the control, the green side stick priority lights in front of it and the red side stick priority lights on the deactivated side.
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