Left seat/right seat?
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Left seat/right seat?
Is there anything written anywhere that PIC must be in the left seat?
I was looking for a new challenge and wondered whether I could jump in the right seat for a change and to experience things from a different perspective, after all anything that tests me is good experience.
Nick
I was looking for a new challenge and wondered whether I could jump in the right seat for a change and to experience things from a different perspective, after all anything that tests me is good experience.
Nick
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It's not legally required. In fact, during your flight lessons for your PPL your instructor was PIC and sat right seat, most likely.
It's a good idea to do your first flight from the RHS with an instructor in the LHS though. The picture is slightly different and, depending on the aircraft, you may need to learn to fly (and land!) with the roles of your hands reversed. Also if you only have one set of instruments they'll probably be located on the LHS and will have a bit of a slant error when viewed from the RHS.
My club requires a checkout before doing this, regardless of the reason, and I think that's good policy.
It's a good idea to do your first flight from the RHS with an instructor in the LHS though. The picture is slightly different and, depending on the aircraft, you may need to learn to fly (and land!) with the roles of your hands reversed. Also if you only have one set of instruments they'll probably be located on the LHS and will have a bit of a slant error when viewed from the RHS.
My club requires a checkout before doing this, regardless of the reason, and I think that's good policy.
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Not found anything in the rules yet......
Often when I'm flying on my own I'll take the RHS (provided I can reach all of the knobs and switches!) Make sure you can too!
Advice.....fly it with an instructor or someone who knows what they're doing in the LHS first, just for the comfort factor. Mrs Miggins from the pie-shop won't be much help in the unlikely event you haven't quite got the finer-points of handling sorted out.
Often when I'm flying on my own I'll take the RHS (provided I can reach all of the knobs and switches!) Make sure you can too!
Advice.....fly it with an instructor or someone who knows what they're doing in the LHS first, just for the comfort factor. Mrs Miggins from the pie-shop won't be much help in the unlikely event you haven't quite got the finer-points of handling sorted out.
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Some aircraft (eg. Diamond DA40s) specifically state in the POH that the left seat must always contain a pilot. This is presumably for access to controls that you can't easily reach from the right.
Moderator
If the aircraft requires that you occupy a specific seat to fly as PIC, there will be an obvious reference to that. Some do, so check the flight manual. If it says nothing, you're on your own. As said, get a checkout....
An excerpt from my notes follows. To put it in context, I was test flying an external modification to the C172....
I worked through most of the approval process, and as agreed , my client came for a meeting one day. He brought along another fellow, whom he introduced as his chief pilot. We discussed the flight test I would be doing. Presuming that one of them would want to fly with me, I asked who it would be. They sort of paused, and looked at each other, then the chief pilot said to my client (his boss), “well you flew the plane last, so you’re more current”. It was thus agreed that my client would fly with me, presumably for the main role of validating the insurance, with me flying.
So the day came. It was spring, and my home runway was muddy, so I left my plane at home, and drove over to the airport. I met my client, and after some formalities to assure that the plane was entitled to fly, the final arrangements were made. During this process it became apparent that the plane had not flown for more than six months, so this was also a maintenance test flight. My client asked if I would need to fly from left seat. I asked him when he had last flown, and he told me that he last flew in this plane. I said “so you have not flown for six months?”. That was the case. I told him that I would fly from left seat. I politely did not make it optional.
Off we went. Among the test I had to do, was a spin in both directions. This alarmed my client. He asked how recently I had spun. I told him, about three weeks ago. He told me that he had not spun since his pilot training, five years earlier. I told him not to worry about it. Everything went fine.
During the flight, my client mentioned that he would be checking out his four pilots in the plane next week. So after my landing, I offered that my client could do a few circuits from the right seat to prepare himself for acting as safety pilot during the check outs next week. He agreed, with hesitation.
His first two landings were not at all good, the third one I took over in the last seconds to prevent what I believed would have been a damagingly hard landing. We came to a stop on the runway, with me in control.
I told him that I though that he should rethink the checkouts, because if the pilot missed the landing, it did not seem to me that he would have the fresh skills to fix it. He seemed to see my point.
Pilot DAR
An excerpt from my notes follows. To put it in context, I was test flying an external modification to the C172....
I worked through most of the approval process, and as agreed , my client came for a meeting one day. He brought along another fellow, whom he introduced as his chief pilot. We discussed the flight test I would be doing. Presuming that one of them would want to fly with me, I asked who it would be. They sort of paused, and looked at each other, then the chief pilot said to my client (his boss), “well you flew the plane last, so you’re more current”. It was thus agreed that my client would fly with me, presumably for the main role of validating the insurance, with me flying.
So the day came. It was spring, and my home runway was muddy, so I left my plane at home, and drove over to the airport. I met my client, and after some formalities to assure that the plane was entitled to fly, the final arrangements were made. During this process it became apparent that the plane had not flown for more than six months, so this was also a maintenance test flight. My client asked if I would need to fly from left seat. I asked him when he had last flown, and he told me that he last flew in this plane. I said “so you have not flown for six months?”. That was the case. I told him that I would fly from left seat. I politely did not make it optional.
Off we went. Among the test I had to do, was a spin in both directions. This alarmed my client. He asked how recently I had spun. I told him, about three weeks ago. He told me that he had not spun since his pilot training, five years earlier. I told him not to worry about it. Everything went fine.
During the flight, my client mentioned that he would be checking out his four pilots in the plane next week. So after my landing, I offered that my client could do a few circuits from the right seat to prepare himself for acting as safety pilot during the check outs next week. He agreed, with hesitation.
His first two landings were not at all good, the third one I took over in the last seconds to prevent what I believed would have been a damagingly hard landing. We came to a stop on the runway, with me in control.
I told him that I though that he should rethink the checkouts, because if the pilot missed the landing, it did not seem to me that he would have the fresh skills to fix it. He seemed to see my point.
Pilot DAR
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From experience (flew RHS quite a bit with a mate of mine in his a/c), no big deal. Just takes a bit getting used to doing things with your hands 'the other way round' and, of course, the slant angle to the instruments, assuming you're flying a 'pilot-side instruments only' spamcan. The only one I found tricky there was the AH/AI in marginal VMC. I'd go up with an instructor or other pilot first. If alone, check you can actually reach ALL switches before taking off - might come in handy 
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RHS
Don't forget about the PA28, with the fuel contol on the left. I'm tall and still have to stretch to change tanks!!
Once you become proficient in the RHS don't forget about keeping your hand in on the LHS, I did it the other day and it's like being a beginner again!!
Have fun!!
Once you become proficient in the RHS don't forget about keeping your hand in on the LHS, I did it the other day and it's like being a beginner again!!
Have fun!!
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Apart from the POH, the other place where it might say so in a legally binding manner is your contract with whoever you hired the aircraft from, eg a flying club's flying order book which you have signed.
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I learned to fly from the RH seat so I could fly with someone whose disabilities meant she had difficulty getting in the RH side and could only fly from the LH and if we wished to share a flight it was going to be easier for me to fly from the RH. It does have the added benefit that, heaven forbid, the person in the LH was suddenly incapacitated, you would be able to fly from the RH.
It's easier than having to fly from the back seat when you are used to the front seat, especially with a big guy in the front. (VERY hard in a C172 
)Most two seat gliders are tandem seating, and they don't all have a full set of instruments in the back . I sometimes get to fly my super cub from the back seat, and I can't see out all that well, being somewhat vertically challenged, and have yet to find an ideal sitting position.
Another real pain in side by side motor gliders is having an airbrake lever in the middle. It's amazing how long it takes to be comfortable with using airbrakes right handed, much
much harder than swapping the side of the throttle.
Only problem with swapping sides in most types is a bit of parallax, only really noticeable on a narrow runway when you might be a bit to the side of the centre line, though beware on some older types that they may not have wheel brake control for the right seat .(DAR rightly says Pa 28, but it isn't the only one) Oh, and a somewhat different view in turns, and the fact that at many airfields a left hand circuit is more usual, so you might not have too good a view of the runway on downwind and base legs.
)Most two seat gliders are tandem seating, and they don't all have a full set of instruments in the back . I sometimes get to fly my super cub from the back seat, and I can't see out all that well, being somewhat vertically challenged, and have yet to find an ideal sitting position. Another real pain in side by side motor gliders is having an airbrake lever in the middle. It's amazing how long it takes to be comfortable with using airbrakes right handed, much
much harder than swapping the side of the throttle.Only problem with swapping sides in most types is a bit of parallax, only really noticeable on a narrow runway when you might be a bit to the side of the centre line, though beware on some older types that they may not have wheel brake control for the right seat .(DAR rightly says Pa 28, but it isn't the only one) Oh, and a somewhat different view in turns, and the fact that at many airfields a left hand circuit is more usual, so you might not have too good a view of the runway on downwind and base legs.
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You will find the landing seems quite different from the right seat the first (few) time(s).
I would strongly recommend you do a session with an instructor in the left seat and see how comfortable you feel.
Once you are comfortable and subject to the type specific points made above it is no different from driving a car with the wheel on the other side.
I would strongly recommend you do a session with an instructor in the left seat and see how comfortable you feel.
Once you are comfortable and subject to the type specific points made above it is no different from driving a car with the wheel on the other side.
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I would strongly recommend you do a session with an instructor in the left seat
Fuji, that's exactly what I did and it was well worth it. Another instructor also recommended that whenever I flew on my own I should fly alternate flights from the RH to maintain my skills - seems a sound piece of advice to me.
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Oh yeah.. If it's a PA 28, make sure there are brakes on both sides!
All it had was that great big johnson bar under the dash to stop.
On the topic of RH vs LH, the sight picture is different on the right. I do routinely take my teen-aged son up and get him to fly left seat, and I let him take over in cruise and I have him practice basic maneuvers. But before I did so I went up with another pilot and practiced and if it's been a while I'll go up with my flying buddy and practice it again.
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When my Remos arrived, it was required and was flown by a test pilot/instructor for the first two hours. After that was done the engineer present made a small change to the ASI and the instructor went up again taking me as a passenger. Just after we got airborne he said to me "you can fly you're new aircraft now" indicating to me to complete the circuit. I was nervous and said I'd never flown RHS before. He said I'll be fine. I did the circuit and got the aircraft back onto the ground. Thats about all I can say other than it scared me to bits. Never again.
I understand there have been quite a few accidents by pilots letting their mates have the LHS without training.
I understand there have been quite a few accidents by pilots letting their mates have the LHS without training.
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Ummm.... I'd suggest that flying from the right seat, left seat, front seat and back seat should make no difference. Unless the ergonomics, design, tradition or weight issues of the paticular aircraft dictate so.
I have been the captain of an aircraft in all four positions, front, back, left and right.... And all four at once!
Didn't consider it an issue.
I have been the captain of an aircraft in all four positions, front, back, left and right.... And all four at once!
Didn't consider it an issue.
Moderator
The SW300 does not lack for bigger "ailerons"..
Yup, it still matters which seat, as the starter, landing light and frictions are all on the left side. The fuel balance did not ever seem to really bother me though - Good trim.
Pilot DAR
How does that work if the 300 cbi has two tanks, one on each side... 
does it then not matter which seat. ?
does it then not matter which seat. ?
Pilot DAR
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L or R seat...?
How about front or back seat...? Same story.
xxx
I learned to fly in a Piper L-4 (the military Piper Cub).
The trainee always sat on the back seat.
When time for the first solo came, it was from the rear seat.
Lucky, the L-21 Super Cub can be flown solo from front seat.
xxx
That was for CG reasons. Cubs are "nose heavy" if you solo from front seat.
Or, install a 50 kg ballast on the rear seat, as solution.
Soloing from the rear seat was somewhat awkward.
Had to stretch your belt, to reach the altimeter knob for adjustment.
xxx
Happy contrails
xxx
I learned to fly in a Piper L-4 (the military Piper Cub).
The trainee always sat on the back seat.
When time for the first solo came, it was from the rear seat.
Lucky, the L-21 Super Cub can be flown solo from front seat.
xxx
That was for CG reasons. Cubs are "nose heavy" if you solo from front seat.
Or, install a 50 kg ballast on the rear seat, as solution.
Soloing from the rear seat was somewhat awkward.
Had to stretch your belt, to reach the altimeter knob for adjustment.
xxx
Happy contrails
