Yoke (aeronautics)

Yokes come in a variety of shapes and sizes, the most common being of a "U" or "W" design. Some aircraft use a "ram's horn" style yoke, shaped like an "M", such as Embraer aircraft and the Concorde. There are some rarer exotic or archaic styles, such as circular or semi-circular designs, much like a steering wheel. In larger aircraft they are usually on a post protruding vertically from the floor, referred to as a control column. In most other planes, they are pivot point mounted on a horizontal tube that comes out of the instrument panel. In the case of the Cirrus SR20 and Cirrus SR22, although the control looks like a side stick, it works like a yoke handle (referred to in the industry as a "side yoke"). The Cessna 162 uses a similar device. File:ConcordeCockpitSinsheim.jpg|The cockpit of Concorde, which has an M-shaped yoke mounted on a control column File:Cabine do avião R99.jpg|The cockpit of an Embraer ERJ with an M-shaped yoke File:Pilotska kabina zrakoplova.JPG|"W"/"U" style yoke in a Cessna 152 light aircraft, mounted on a horizontal tube protruding from the instrumental panel File:Li-2 HA-LIX Cockpit 01.jpg|Circular, steering-wheel type yoke in a 1940s Lisunov Li-2 File:SR22TN Perspective Cockpit.jpg|Cirrus SR22 panel showing both side yokes File:Cessna 162 Skycatcher N5201K 0986 instrument panel.JPG|Cessna 162 Skycatcher instrument panel ==Advantages and disadvantages==

Side-sticks and centre-sticks are better for making rapid control inputs and dealing with high g-forces, hence their use in military, sport, and aerobatic aircraft. However, yokes are less sensitive (i.e., more precise) due to a larger range of motion and provide more visual feedback to the pilot. Most yokes are connected and will both move together, thus providing instant indication to the other pilot when one makes a control input. This is in contrast to some fly-by-wire control sticks that allow each pilot to send different, and sometimes greatly conflicting, inputs. Competing inputs are signaled on Airbus craft. Yokes take up more room than side-sticks in the cockpit and may even obscure some instruments; by comparison, side-sticks have minimal cockpit intrusion, allowing the inclusion of retractable tray-tables and making it easier to enter/leave small cockpits. A yoke, unlike a side-stick, may be used comfortably with either hand. This can be useful if one needs to write or manipulate other controls in the cockpit. This advantage is shared with the center-stick. ==Ancillary functions==

The yoke often incorporates other key functions such as housing thumb or finger buttons to enable the radio microphone, disengage the autopilot, and trim the aircraft. In addition, there may be a clipboard, checklist, or chronometer located in the yoke's center. ==Alternative control systems==

Yokes are not used on all aircraft. Airships use a ship's wheel, helicopters use a cyclic, and the majority of military fighter aircraft use a center or side-stick. Some light aircraft use a stick due to pilot preference. The latest Airbus family of passenger jets use a side-stick, similar to a joystick, to actuate control surfaces. There are also computer input devices designed to simulate a yoke, intended for flight simulators. ==See also==