ORIGINAL: Red Scholefield

Many years ago when I was working at Marshal Space Flight Center there was an extensive study to determine which were the best controls for the Lunar Module. It was set up essentially in mode 1 or mode 2. Everyone participated in trying it in a small simulator, secretaries, engineers, technicians and engineers and finally the astronauts. After many weeks the came to the conclusion that there was no significant difference in ones agility to control. It was just about 50/50 mode 1 vs mode 2 - even with the astronauts.

I think you will find at a number of US mode 1 fliers started with reeds that were set up the same way. Then it became quite obvious if you were going to help others as a test pilot that you had better learn mode 2. It was a painful few months, but most of us made the transition fairly well.