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Comment by snypher | Hacker News Reader

There's a good photo of them here; https://theaircurrent.com/aviation-safety/ai171-investigatio...

You can do them both with one hand.

Are you completely sure you can considering that they are spring loaded and they are like 7-10cm apart judging by the size of other controls?

I don't understand your question. I have done this myself, am I completely sure?

Did you mean to say you can activate the switches with one hand simultaneously? That is probably what the above commenter assumed you meant. Since lifting and twisting two switches simultaneously with one hand seems challenging.

Above commenter said _quickly_, not simultaneously

Jesus...

joey: Can you switch them quickly?

snypher: You can do them with one hand. [Ed. This is ambiguous and could be read as "one hand, simultaneously". In fact, doing it with one hand non-simultaneously would be a weird claim to make of a simple knob. See also ajb's comment below.]

zihotki: Really? They are not close together and have a spring mechanism. [Ed. Seems to believe snypher is claiming simultaneous operation.]

snypher: I am confused by the response.

Me: [Tries to facilitate clarification]

> This is ambiguous and could be read as "one hand, simultaneously"

Not within the context of the thread.

Context is both these switches being turned off with a 1 second gap. Doing it with one hand simultaneously would possibly explain it, otherwise it doesn’t seem relevant.

> Context is both these switches being turned off with a 1 second gap. Doing it with one hand simultaneously would possibly explain it

It would. So would switching both quickly in succession. One second is a long time—I can adjust power, prop, fuel pump and flaps in about that time.

What I gathered from comments here is it's not a simple flick of the switch and it actually takes some effort to turn them off. Can you really do it twice within the span of 1 second?

You pull it out and flip it. It’s not easy to do inadvertently. But it’s also not convoluted—you want to be able to quickly cutoff if there is an engine fire.

Are you kidding? You don't understand that 'simultaneous' is <1 second?

It didn't happen simultaneously so this is irrelevant.

It is relevant to the interaction I replied to.

You’re the only one who said “simultaneously.”

See above.

I wonder if they could theoretically rest on top of the notch, not fully locked into either position and flip accidentally. No idea how the switches behave when not all the way up or down, but the notch looks pretty long and flat so it could be possible.

Something like this could maybe happen to one switch, it's unlikely but possible. But two independent switches at the same time?

Good point, that is very unlikely. I was just wondering if it's possible at all.

Those switches are the size of a thumb. No one is moving those - separately, mind you - and not realize what is going on.

If you do them both with one hand, would they not be moved at the same instant rather than 1 second apart?

They require a per-switch motion, so unlikely.

Is there just one set of switches? Or do both pilots have their own set?

Only one set.

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