Flying from the right seat as a Private Pilot.

[TK211X]

I'd like to try flying from the right seat. I just read the left handed thread and (me being a lefty) it made me want to try it.

Is there anything I should now or be prepared for? Is it best to go up with a safety pilot just in case the landings don't feel right?

 

[Brad Z]

I'd like to try flying from the right seat. I just read the left handed thread and (me being a lefty) it made me want to try it.

Is there anything I should now or be prepared for? Is it best to go up with a safety pilot just in case the landings don't feel right?

Why don't you hire a CFI and do it in conjunction with a flight review?

 

[Grum.Man]

My Questair Venture is set up to be flown from the right seat.

 

[Ted]

The sight picture is different, so it takes a bit of getting used to. I wouldn't be too worried about bending anything, but going up with a CFI and doing it as part of a flight review is a good suggestion.

 

[FlySince9]

It would be prudent to have at least another pilot in the left seat... It gets a little weird when you first try it...muscle memory sometimes tends to work against you...

 

[SixPapaCharlie]

Just know your rudder pedals are going to be reversed.

 

[Theboys]

I think it would depend on how many hours you have. I prefer flying a 172 from the right seat. A more complex plane not as much.

 

[Jns_V]

I did a few circles during my PPL training from the right seat with an instructor. I felt that the plane was not going in the direction I wanted it to go, but otherwise I could fly and land safely, just had to concentrate more.

 

[James331]

Not that big of a deal, take someone else with you in the left seat first, CFI or a buddy who is proficient in the airframe.

 

[Gucci Pilot]

Put the taxiway centerline on the left knee instead of the right. Other than that, it is the same.

 

[rachelk.tailwinds]

I think it'd be a little silly to pay for an instructor to do it; another pilot, though, sure. Other than breaking your muscle memory, I don't see a reason why it'd be much different than the left seat.

Sitting in the airplane for a while on the ground beforehand and getting a feel for the controls and where each of the instruments are might be a good idea, too.

 

[Kritchlow]

It's been many years since I've done my CFI training, but I remember the seat transition being the hardest thing for me.. Especially in a crosswind.

 

[midlifeflyer]

For some it's a more difficult transition that for others. Many pilots working on their CFI report landing from the right seat as being the single most difficult flight task to get used to. Some have to learn to land all over again, making the exact same mistakes they made from the left seat as student pilots, such as landing well right of the centerline in a crab toward the center (just as students tend to land well left of the centerline).

Don't know if the hull damage rate actually supports it, but most rental FBOs prohibit flight from the right seat without a rigt seat checkout.

It might not apply to you. You may have learned how to land in a way that changing seats is a non-issue but it seems to me that grabbing a CFI for an hour who understands what the transition entails and the most common errors made sounds like pretty cheap risk management to me.

 

[midlifeflyer]

For some it's a more difficult transition that for others. Many pilots working on their CFI report landing from the right seat as being the single most difficult flight task to get used to.

...as Kritchlow said as I was typing.

I was lucky. I couldn't land to begin with

 

[TheGolfPilot]

It was dumb, but about 10 flight hours into my PPL I took my friend up and sat in the right seat. The insurance policy didn't have anything against it so I thought how hard can it be... It wasn't a very good landing and that was the last time I did that.
I did file and fly IFR from the right seat once with my pilot friend in the left. I followed an ILS through a 500ft layer around 1000-1500 AGL or so looking across the panel, wasn't so bad. But that also, I won't do again.
Unless you are a CFI and do it all the time, stick to what you are familiar with

 

[MAKG1]

So, how do you guys prime and start the engine in a 172 when you're solo in the right seat?

Instrument scans seem unpleasant when all the interesting stuff is in front of the other seat.

 

[Gucci Pilot]

So, how do you guys prime and start the engine in a 172 when you're solo in the right seat?

Instrument scans seem unpleasant when all the interesting stuff is in front of the other seat.

Lean over. It is uncomfortable. Id only fly from the right seat if I had dual instruments or a competent pilot in the left seat.

 

[mscard88]

So, how do you guys prime and start the engine in a 172 when you're solo in the right seat?

Instrument scans seem unpleasant when all the interesting stuff is in front of the other seat.

Lean wayyyyy over to your right (oops LEFT)!
.
Really, not that difficult, but it is different the first few times you do it, and I've never heard of a FBO prohibiting it.

 

[midlifeflyer]

So, how do you guys prime and start the engine in a 172 when you're solo in the right seat?

Not any more difficult than turning the key. I don't even recall it being an issue and, while I worked on my CFI I tended to fly from the right all the time, even solo or with my non-pilot wife on cross countries.

Instrument scans seem unpleasant when all the interesting stuff is in front of the other seat.

You look toward the instruments and get used to the effects of parallax on the panel just like you get used to it for the landings. Some aircraft are more difficult than others but the basic sixpack on a flat panel (as opposed to one canted toward the left seat) is pretty straightforward. Having had the experience of relearning landings, the instrument transition is a bit easier because you know the type of things to expect.

What can be more difficult to get used to is being in the clouds. As you know, clouds are not uniform, you can actually see texture streaming by. Looking at the instruments from the right seat makes the streaming out the left side more pronounced, so your eyes are saying you are in a constant right turn. But just like feelings of disorientation on the left, you get used to relying on the instruments.

 

[MAKG1]

Lean wayyyyy over to your right!
.
Really, not that difficult, but it is different the first few times you do it, and I've never heard of a FBO prohibiting it.

Uh, I think it would be really difficult to start the airplane if you were hanging out the other window….unless you're hand propping it.

 

[alfadog]

Just know your rudder pedals are going to be reversed.

:wink2: Tell you what though, make sure you have brakes on the right side or have an alternate plan if you don't. I actually hurt my airplane because I forgot that I didn't have brakes on the right side of the Arrow. I knew that when I took off to go to a fairly unfamiliar airport and I used the handbrake while taxiing out but when I got there I had a senior moment and forgot for a second. I was already landing a bit long due to being careful as I was in the right seat and not used to the sight picture. Then, with the end of the runway approaching, I hit the brakes but there were no brakes. It took me a moment to realize that and get on the handbrake which resulted in me overrunning the end of the runway by a few feet and doing some damage to the airplane in the process.

 

[MichiPilot]

It would be prudent to have at least another pilot in the left seat... It gets a little weird when you first try it...muscle memory sometimes tends to work against you...

I agree with this. Flying the plane itself isn't much different but where you reach for things and the different sight picture can mess with you. First time I tried it I landed but it certainly wasn't pretty.

 

[david0tey]

Just be prepared for some pretty intense sideloading on your first few landings. The sight picture can play tricks on you.

 

[frfly172]

It's fun,give it a try,if your not comfortable bring along a CFI ,just hope that he can fly from the right seat.

 

[Fearless Tower]

So, how do you guys prime and start the engine in a 172 when you're solo in the right seat?

Instrument scans seem unpleasant when all the interesting stuff is in front of the other seat.

Like others have said, you lean over. It really isn't that hard in most typical Single Engine Cessna/Piper types. Bos might be a bit of a challenge to fly single pilot from the right since most of the switches are obscured by the yoke arm, but you could do it.

When I started working on CFI stuff, I used to go out solo all the time in the 172s and Arrows. The instruments on opposite side aren't much of a challenge at all for VFR flying. Instrument flying from the right can take a while to get used to, but if you want to be a CFII, you better get used to it.

I've flown solo IFR in IMC from the right seat a few times. Not my most precise instrument work, but I didn't feel unsafe.

 

[Fearless Tower]

I agree with this. Flying the plane itself isn't much different but where you reach for things and the different sight picture can mess with you. First time I tried it I landed but it certainly wasn't pretty.

I'd also agree. If you have never flown from the right seat or flown an airplane with a stick on throttle on the left, it isn't a bad idea to at least bring along another pilot in the left seat just for backup. For most folks, it isn't that bad, but I know of at least one guy who scrapped the tail tie down ring off a 172 the first time he tried to land from the right seat (FWIW, same guy also retracted the gear instead of flaps on a touch and go while training for CFI).

 

[mscard88]

one guy who scrapped the tail tie down ring off a 172 the first time he tried to land from the right seat

Dang thought that was what it was for! Who knew!

 

[mkosmo]

:wink2: Tell you what though, make sure you have brakes on the right side or have an alternate plan if you don't. I actually hurt my airplane because I forgot that I didn't have brakes on the right side of the Arrow. I knew that when I took off to go to a fairly unfamiliar airport and I used the handbrake while taxiing out but when I got there I had a senior moment and forgot for a second. I was already landing a bit long due to being careful as I was in the right seat and not used to the sight picture. Then, with the end of the runway approaching, I hit the brakes but there were no brakes. It took me a moment to realize that and get on the handbrake which resulted in me overrunning the end of the runway by a few feet and doing some damage to the airplane in the process.

Ouch, that'd be no fun. You've got me curious though: any particular reason you were in the right seat?

 

[alfadog]

Ouch, that'd be no fun. You've got me curious though: any particular reason you were in the right seat?

I was taking it somewhere to show it to someone who was interested in flying it and was going to take it for a test flight from the left so I figured that I would want to be at least comfortable with flying from the right seat. I had no problem flyng it and landing it from the right seat, just had that miscue with the brakes.

 

[mkosmo]

I was taking it somewhere to show it to someone who was interested in flying it and was going to take it for a test flight from the left so I figured that I would want to be at least comfortable with flying from the right seat. I had no problem flyng it and landing it from the right seat, Just had that miscue with the brakes.

I should do some more right seat practice. The modified sight picture throws me off quite a bit.

 

[asicer]

+1 on the recommendation for having a competent pilot in the left seat. On one plane that I fly, it gets really hard to see the ASI from the right seat at dusk/night due to glare.

 

[Kritchlow]

+1 on the recommendation for having a competent pilot in the left seat. On one plane that I fly, it gets really hard to see the ASI from the right seat at dusk/night due to glare.

I would go one step further. I would have an instructor in the left seat. A PP may not have the skill to perform a save.

 

[Kritchlow]

...as Kritchlow said as I was typing.

I was lucky. I couldn't land to begin with

 

[JOhnH]

I'd like to try flying from the right seat. I just read the left handed thread and (me being a lefty) it made me want to try it.

Is there anything I should now or be prepared for? Is it best to go up with a safety pilot just in case the landings don't feel right?

Make sure the plane has brakes on the right side.

 

[Archammer]

Lefty here and I don't care to fly from the right seat. My dexterity hand ends up being wasted on power adjustments during critical phases. I'm ambidextrous in almost all things, so it's ok, but I just prefer the left.

It IS great practice though, and will make you a better pilot.

 

[Palmpilot]

I've seen a couple of pilots who weren't used to it flare too high when flying from the right seat. When I got a right-seat checkout, I found that it definitely took some getting used to.

 

[Brad Z]

Are ya'll who are checking yourselves out in the opposite seat going up and doing air work too...slow flight, stalls, etc.? Sure, landings feel different, but so do stalls, emergency flows, etc. if you grab the mixture rather than the throttle, is someone going to catch you? Same with gear versus flaps. Like I said, take an instructor with you, get comfortable, and walk away with a flight review too.

 

[jordane93]

If you are renting, you might want to check your rental agreement. At the school I work, we don't let anyone sit in the right seat unless it's our CFI.

 

[Brad Z]

If you are renting, you might want to check your rental agreement. At the school I work, we don't let anyone sit in the right seat unless it's our CFI.

Kind of unnecessarily complicates taking passengers, doesn't it?

 

[jordane93]

Kind of unnecessarily complicates taking passengers, doesn't it?

I meant the pilot.