Landing from the RHS
Hello all,
After reading the thread about the legalities of allowing a non-pilot passenger to take controls of a light aircraft, I thought that I would ask about a query of my own.
I hold a newly-minted PPL, and I often fly with another new PPL'er, and we have good fun. One of us in PIC, whilst the other does the radio/nav, and on the way back, we swap. We enjoy flying together, because being new, we can look out for each other and help get past our post PPL blues.
But after one flight, we discussed what it would be like landing from the RHS. We had seen instructors do it numerous times in our training, but with the altered perspective, and the added problem of holding the yoke with the other hand during the critical flare stage, we wondered what it would be like.
After some discussion, we agreed that on our next flight together, we would each take a turn at landing form the RHS, but that whoever was in the LHs would be ready to take over should the RHS pilot not feel at all safe or sure with the way that things were going.
Our reasoning for doing this, was raised by the question of - what would we do if we were flying together and the person in the LHS suddenly collapsed? We decided to find out, even though the chances of this happening were minimal, and indeed, we were both in our early thirties.
I was first up. My friend in the LHS was poised at the ready, as I made my descent. I found the whole thing a pulse-raising experience, and as I neared the threshold, I was concentrating more than I had since my first solo. Everything was so different. It seemed strange to have my hands 'swapped over'. At timely interveals, my pal would ask if I was okay, and I said yes. I flared, and managed to make a perfectly safe landing, but I didn't enjoy it at all. I had no desire to repeat the performance, but I had at least proved to myself that I could do it from the other side.
My pal went next, and at our base airport, he too made a safe landing from the other side. But he was sweating as we taxied in. Neither of us would want to do this again.
So did we break the law? Remember, we are both licenced pilots, and safety (in my opinion) was never compromised.
Flock1