Stick grips

I bought a pair of custom carved teakwood grips for my control sticks. These are made by a guy in Washington state who, as far as I know, does nothing but turn out these amazing pieces of airplane sculpture. He might also practice zen meditation and catch flies with chopsticks – I really can't be sure. No website, but if you know how to contact him, he can make you a custom set of grips to your specifications. Super nice guy too.

Then I gave them to a friend from work, who very generously ran them through his laser and engraved labels for the switches right onto the wood. It turned out looking great:

The passenger's stick has a push-to-talk (PTT) button and a four-way trim switch. The pilot's stick has switches for PTT, trim, autopilot disconnect, and engine start. Yes, I am putting a start switch on the stick… with a fuel-injected taildragger, you normally need three hands to start the engine: one to turn the key, one to monkey with the throttle and mixture, and one to hold the stick back to keep the airplane from going over on its nose. Since I'm not a Hindu deity I can't manage this very easily, so I will put the starter control right on the pilot's stick grip. There will still be a key switch in series with the button for safety, so you won't be able to accidentally engage the stater if you bump the stick with your soda.