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invalid entry
10th Apr 2002, 10:58
Purely from a hypothetical point of view, is it legal in the UK to fly a light aircraft from the right hand seat (either solo or with pax) without an instructor's rating?
Can't find anything about this.
Any ideas?
Thanks

Icarus Wings
10th Apr 2002, 12:02
I think that as long as you can reach all of the controls its ok.

MJR
10th Apr 2002, 14:37
You can fly from the left or the right, but not the back unless there are the controls to do so. I would recommend taking a safety pilot/instructor if you wish to try the right seat for the first time as it is a little different.

TTFN

DB6
10th Apr 2002, 18:14
Depends. There are some aircraft that stipulate in the flight manual which seat shall be occupied when flown solo. As a matter of interest the Firefly 260 must be flown solo from the RHS so the answer to your question in that case is yes. The flight manual will reveal all.

distaff_beancounter
10th Apr 2002, 18:42
There are some practical limitations, on some types. eg some Piper Seneca 1s, only had toe-brakes for the left hand seat.

I also seem to recall reading somewhere, sorry can't remember where, that only a pilot holding an instructor's rating (+ IMC/IR of course) can fly in IMC from the RHS, unless the aircraft has a full set of duplicate intruments in front of the RHS.

This seems logical to me, as I assume that instructors have been taught to read the instruments that are on the left hand side, from the RHS while allowing for the parallax.

poetpilot
12th Apr 2002, 11:15
For a privately owned aircraft, you should also ensure that your insurance covers you to do so - irrespective of what the POH says.

I once had a Jodel D112 that only had (heel) brakes on the LHS. would not have liked to fly it solo RHS with no brakes !