As do many airplanes, in fact Cessna-style plunger throttle controls are relatively unusual.
The knobs on airplane throttles or thrust levers are also seldom spherical; it has happened but most are cylindrical. There’s a whole section in FAR 23 that talks about how they have to be oriented in the cockpit, the shape and color of the knobs/handles etc. so pilots can tell them apart at a glance/by feel. For instance, when you first climb into a Cessna Skyhawk the position of the flap lever in front of the copilot’s left knee feels kind of strange, almost everything is conveniently placed for the pilot, but the flaps are way over there. law requires the flap control to be to the right of the cockpit centerline, the gear lever must be to the left, but a Skyhawk has fixed gear.
You often hear steam engineers say “put the throttle on the ceiling” meaning apply full power. Diesel engineers will refer to “notch 8” as the highest power setting.
I’m pretty sure it was from trains first
You may be thinking of “balls out” which refers to centrifugal regulators that are usually used on steam engines.
I just assumed it was an exaggeration. Putting the balls to the wall meant having them wide open
Trains used levers for the throttle.
As do many airplanes, in fact Cessna-style plunger throttle controls are relatively unusual.
The knobs on airplane throttles or thrust levers are also seldom spherical; it has happened but most are cylindrical. There’s a whole section in FAR 23 that talks about how they have to be oriented in the cockpit, the shape and color of the knobs/handles etc. so pilots can tell them apart at a glance/by feel. For instance, when you first climb into a Cessna Skyhawk the position of the flap lever in front of the copilot’s left knee feels kind of strange, almost everything is conveniently placed for the pilot, but the flaps are way over there. law requires the flap control to be to the right of the cockpit centerline, the gear lever must be to the left, but a Skyhawk has fixed gear.
You often hear steam engineers say “put the throttle on the ceiling” meaning apply full power. Diesel engineers will refer to “notch 8” as the highest power setting.
I heard that too
My mom worked for the railroad - she was the first trains woman to become a superconductor.
Probably had a lot of folks railing against her for being a trainsetter