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Sometimes the Millennium Falcon performs complex maneuvers but at the same time no one on board seems to do much with the controls. The maneuvers look too complex to be the work of an autopilot. The movies don't give a good look of the cockpit so it's difficult to figure out what all the controls in the cockpit do.

How does Han control the Millennium Falcon, especially during complex maneuvers?

Note: the idea for this question came from http://www.moviemistakes.com/film409/questions.

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    I gave an edit to try to make this a more sensible question as their is a good answer. Roll back if you do not agree.
    – Skooba
    Commented May 13, 2016 at 14:05
  • Note that it looks like the cockpit was majorly redesigned/modified between the events of Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens, and for the latter movie, there are clearly control yokes visible in a lot of shots of the set/prop used for filming.
    – Todd Wilcox
    Commented May 13, 2016 at 14:24
  • As a direct answer to the asked question but in a different spirit: "Generally quite poorly".
    – Michael Richardson
    Commented May 14, 2016 at 14:52

2 Answers 2

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Han flew it just like any pilot would...

Looking at this diagram from the Millennium Falcon Owner's Workshop Manual (canon level unknown, but probably not G-level) we see that the control labeled 6 is the control yoke. This was responsible for the maneuvering of the ship.

falcon controls

falcon controls 2

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    I'm curious about the... ummm... is "canonicity" a word? In what canon(s) is The Millennium Falcon Owner's Workshop Manual?
    – Todd Wilcox
    Commented May 13, 2016 at 14:05
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    No, it is "canonocity... I will add that caveat.
    – Skooba
    Commented May 13, 2016 at 14:07
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    could it be ... Canonoville?
    – Matt Gutting
    Commented May 13, 2016 at 15:24
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    @MattGutting I like Canonsburg better...oh wait....
    – Skooba
    Commented May 13, 2016 at 15:38
  • @ToddWilcox - It's non-canon. It has no validity in the officially accepted works that make up the Disney canon. Even under the old system, it wouldn't be considered "g-canon" since George Lucas had no part in its writing.
    – Valorum
    Commented May 13, 2016 at 16:08
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So I guess he steers in the old fashioned way and all the button pressing would be him getting the right read outs on the screens to he know were he is and whats around him...

Millennium Falcons steering things...

Here's another view, from what is clearly an on-set photo from the original trilogy (Luke has his hand cut off, so this is from Empire):

enter image description here

Notice Leia's hand is resting on some crontol that is approximately where the control yokes pictured in the top image would be. Also, we can see the closer control yoke and the handgrip pointed to by the arrow is clearly the same shape as the handgrips visible in the top photo. So even though the provenance of the top photo is unknown, it matches closely enough to what is in the bottom photo, which is clearly from the original trilogy and a shooting set, that I think we can consider the top photo to be authoritative.

So The Millenium Falcon is most likely controlled in a way very similar to a typical modern Earth aircraft. Note that we also know that X-wings have control sticks, much like modern Earth fighter jets, so it's reasonable to assume that they are controlled in a similar manner.

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    I found a good one that confirms your original image and added it to the answer. Nice find!
    – Todd Wilcox
    Commented May 13, 2016 at 14:53
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    Whoa, I thought that was a picture of a real cockpit. I don't remember ever having a clear view of a yoke.
    – Mazura
    Commented May 13, 2016 at 16:11
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    @Mazura I've watched Star Wars literally hundreds of times over the last 38 years, and I never knew there were control yokes in The Millenium Falcon until this answer was posted. We really never see them clearly on screen.
    – Todd Wilcox
    Commented May 13, 2016 at 16:15
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    +2 for two hand drawn red circles, -1 for hand drawn red arrow = +1 overall
    – T.J.L.
    Commented May 13, 2016 at 17:30
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    @ToddWilcox Thanks for the extra photo!
    – Rincewind
    Commented May 13, 2016 at 18:01