Flying the right seat (do I need a CFI)

labbadabba

labbadabba

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labbadabba
Working on my Commercial flight stuff knowing that I'll be doing my CFI shortly after my checkride. So I'd like to do some flying from the right seat. Do I need to enlist a CFI to babysit in the left seat or should I just go up and fly?

I've done some flying from the right but I've never performed a takeoff or landing from the right.

Thoughts?
 
Wouldn't hurt to have at least someone capable of landing the airplane from the other side, just in case. It honestly isn't that much different and I transitioned quickly to the other side.
 
I fly from the right seat all the time. Someone recently threw a fit about it, saying I had a non-pilot on the left seat and this wasn't safe. As long as you can reach all of the controls or the POH doesn't designate a PIC seat, you can pilot the plane from either seat. Get someone to sit in the left seat a few times while you takeoff and land if it makes you more comfortable, but no requirement.
 
I was screwing up the take off so badly when so tried the right seat the first time, I told my CFI friend after about getting 100-200 ft off the ground “your airplane”. My right hand and left hand were not used to swapping duties of power and airspeed control. I probably would have been fine, but I won’t do that without another pilot on board.
 
You don't need a CFI but for the first time it might be beneficial. I did that last year and grabbed my CFI and went up in the right seat. Did I need him...nope...did I fly just fine...yes. But it was nice to have him there in case I got cornfused on the right side. On top of that he made me do maneuvers and what not and made it like a mini lesson.
 
I flew from the right seat a couple of weeks ago just to see how it was. It took me a couple of approaches to get used to the different sight picture but after that I was fine.

My Dad, who is a pp was in the left seat so he could have taken over if need be.
 
455 Bravo Uniform said:
I was screwing up the take off so badly when so tried the right seat the first time, I told my CFI friend after about getting 100-200 ft off the ground “your airplane”. My right hand and left hand were not used to swapping duties of power and airspeed control. I probably would have been fine, but I won’t do that without another pilot on board.
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Yeah it messes with your brain for the first couple of hours. The sight picture and trying to keep the longitudinal axis of the airplane centered on the runway takes some getting used to.
 
Do you need to have a CFI to wear a purple shirt and orange shorts when you fly? If it doesn't say it's prohibited in the regs it's legal. If you can't find where it says you can't fly from the right seat look in the same section as it says you can't wear a purple shirt and orange shorts.
 
I know by the regs there is no issue. I guess, my thinking is, do I want someone competent in the left seat if I screw up? Or is this something that we can do pretty safely on our own?
 
EdFred said:
Do you need to have a CFI to wear a purple shirt and orange shorts when you fly? If it doesn't say it's prohibited in the regs it's legal. If you can't find where it says you can't fly from the right seat look in the same section as it says you can't wear a purple shirt and orange shorts.
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Ed, you can’t wear a purple shirt and orange shorts while flying. No regs required to know that. If you even own purple shirt and orange shorts burn them now.
 
labbadabba said:
I know by the regs there is no issue. I guess, my thinking is, do I want someone competent in the left seat if I screw up? Or is this something that we can do pretty safely on our own?
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It’s really up to you and your personal comfort level.

Some will say you are cheating death by trying it solo without a CFI first.

The first time I took off and landed from the right seat was solo and I didn’t bend any metal. It can most definitely be safely done.

Your first few landings will probably not be quite as smooth as they are from the left, but just be careful and you’ll be fine. Normal rules apply, don’t be afraid to go around if you need to.

The biggest pitfalls are in over-controlling, since you probably don’t have the same feel (using different arms to handle power vs pitch). It helps if you have flown an airplane with a stick, but again, not necessary.

FWIW, as a little side-note: the only accident/incident I personally know of involving a first time right seater happened with a Gold Seal CFI in the left seat. The pilot pulled back too much/abruptly in the flare and ground the tail tie-down off. In other words, if you are going to screw it up, the ‘competent pilot’ may not be able to save it anyway.
 
I read it as a regulation question, not a comfort question. Some people may have issues transitioning. I did not, but I am also ambidextrous with a lot of things, so the transition to flip my brain wasnt an issue. What was an issue is the plane I was training for CFI had the PTT on the left horn of the right hand yoke. What idiot installed that?

So if you have trouble flip flopping physical activities between dominant hand and non dominant by all means take another pilot up with you. Wouldnt have to be a CFI.

And for the record I have orange and purple attire
 
You don’t need a CFI. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to take one though.
 
I give a fair amount of CFI training and have found that the majority of right seat first timers will try and land pretty crooked due to the difference in sight picture. I would suggest having someone proficient in the left seat to give you feedback on the landings and help keep you from doing damage. They don't have to be a CFI but it certainly doesn't hurt.

That said, my suggestion would be to wait to switch seats until after you finish the commercial certificate. It doesn't take that long to transition and you might end up making things take longer with the commercial practice if you're switching seats and not getting a consistent sight picture.
 
EdFred said:
Do you need to have a CFI to wear a purple shirt and orange shorts when you fly? If it doesn't say it's prohibited in the regs it's legal. If you can't find where it says you can't fly from the right seat look in the same section as it says you can't wear a purple shirt and orange shorts.
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Do believe he asked if it was legal, but rather prudent.
 
I found it difficult at first, but once it clicked it was there forever... regardless of airplane. And I’m taking C152 through A321.
 
Not required, and if you have no problems you'll have no problems. If you do have an emergency during the first few flights you might whish you were in your accustomed seat.
 
Even If you were solo and you came in to approach and nothing felt good from the right-hand seat there's nothing to say you couldn't climb back up to altitude trim the plane out and quickly switch seats. There's only a handful of GA aircraft that you couldn't do that in. Heck at altitude I've trimmed out the plane slightly nose down and climbed halfway into the back seat to get something out of the baggage compartment once ( maybe more than once) and nothing went wrong.
 
No issue to fly from the right seat, and no permission is required. It's no harder than driving a right-hand drive car on the left hand side of the road. I took my plane up from the right seat a few times prior to being safety pilot for my wife who had done some type-specific training in our Traveler and wanted some additional practice. I wasn't really needed. She is really good at crosswind landings.
 
EdFred said:
Even If you were solo and you came in to approach and nothing felt good from the right-hand seat there's nothing to say you couldn't climb back up to altitude trim the plane out and quickly switch seats. There's only a handful of GA aircraft that you couldn't do that in. Heck at altitude I've trimmed out the plane slightly nose down and climbed halfway into the back seat to get something out of the baggage compartment once ( maybe more than once) and nothing went wrong.
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I’m not sure about regs, and even less sure about all the different aircraft types so you are probably right.

I do know at least a few plane types that require a pilot to be seated at the controls at all times. I see as “climbing over” to contradict that, but you likely know more than I do.
 
Actually @Kritchlow has a point, some aircraft have seat limitations because of inability to reach certain things. But I doubt the OP is asking about those types of aircraft.

(Tiller is a good example. If it’s single pilot and has only one tiller, it’ll have a specific seat limitation in the aircraft manual and it’ll be “regulatory”. And no, you can’t climb back and forth legally.)
 
It takes some getting used to. Take a pilot with you - then teach them stuff to prepare. take people at all levels, with the more experienced first.
 
When I was flying a lot in the right seat as an observer on CAP planes, I was almost as comfortable flying from the right seat as I was from the left. I was used to the sight picture. I was also younger then, so neuroplasticity was working in my favor.

Now I'm in my 40s and haven't even sat in the right seat in years. I wouldn't try it now without someone in the left.

The regs don't care where the pilots unless the plane is placarded (common for tandem seat planes) or there's language in the POH (uncommon in GA)
 
Before you jump in the right seat know if you have brakes over there. There are no brakes on the right seat rudder pedals in the Mooney.
 
Having just done this recently... the first couple times I tried landing in the right seat it was downright scary. I was happy to have a competent pilot in the left seat. It didn't get better until I flew with an actual CFI (high time, ATP, who gave me some instruction on how to take off (easy) and land (not so easy) from the right seat. After half a dozen laps around the pattern and landings with his coaching it was pretty easy.

You're not required to have a CFI, of course, but I'd highly recommend it.
 
labbadabba said:
Working on my Commercial flight stuff knowing that I'll be doing my CFI shortly after my checkride. So I'd like to do some flying from the right seat. Do I need to enlist a CFI to babysit in the left seat or should I just go up and fly?

I've done some flying from the right but I've never performed a takeoff or landing from the right.

Thoughts?
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Around here, Commercial students often train in the right seat and take the checkride in the right seat. The idea is that you'll be so comfortable there (and the maneuvers are the same) that you'll just need to work on talking/teaching while you fly to be ready for the flight portion of the CFI checkride.
 
Best to have someone competent on the left side the first time you try. It's going to be different flying over there. Also, in some planes, not everything exists on the right side. In my plane, the right seat gets no brakes. Also, unless you're a contortionist you can't raise the gear (lowering is no problem).
 
mjburian said:
Around here, Commercial students often train in the right seat and take the checkride in the right seat. The idea is that you'll be so comfortable there (and the maneuvers are the same) that you'll just need to work on talking/teaching while you fly to be ready for the flight portion of the CFI checkride.
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I've been considering this. I've done the commercial maneuvers from the right seat and don't have any issues. I just haven't tried landing yet. I think if I get proficient enough I'd like to be good enough where I'd be comfortable to take the checkride from the right seat.
 
labbadabba said:
I've been considering this. I've done the commercial maneuvers from the right seat and don't have any issues. I just haven't tried landing yet. I think if I get proficient enough I'd like to be good enough where I'd be comfortable to take the checkride from the right seat.
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You will take the CFI checkride from the right seat. So if that's the plan after Commercial, it might make sense to get used to everything from that side earlier which then makes the addition of talking/teaching a little easier (fewer new things added). That said, transitioning from left seat to right seat is probably more a matter of confidence than anything else. I know some people who've done it with no issues at all and others who wanted a few (short) flights before they felt comfortable.

The sight picture is slightly different and you switch which hands you use for controls (when I first moved to the right seat, I kept reaching against the door with my right hand for the throttle) and on some airplanes you may not have all controls (some older Arrows don't have right side brakes, for instance). Once you're used to those things, you almost start to forget that it wasn't the way you learned.
 
There was a hilarious contretemps at my former flying club - a student pilot was in the left seat, a PP in the right, and the club management had a hissy fit over it (the PP wasn't a CFI); after much yelling, reg searching, and righteous indignation it came down to "So what?" The FAA didn't care, and there wasn't a black-and-white club rule about it. The club Clydes wanted the PP expelled, or suspended, for "bad judgment" - I think we all knew the student was doing the flying, for fun, with a buddy in the right seat to be legal as PIC. Not havng a dog in the fight, listening to the looooong debate at the quaterly safety meeting was good entertainment. And we had donuts.
 
Sundancer said:
There was a hilarious contretemps at my former flying club - a student pilot was in the left seat, a PP in the right, and the club management had a hissy fit over it (the PP wasn't a CFI); after much yelling, reg searching, and righteous indignation it came down to "So what?" The FAA didn't care, and there wasn't a black-and-white club rule about it. The club Clydes wanted the PP expelled, or suspended, for "bad judgment" - I think we all knew the student was doing the flying, for fun, with a buddy in the right seat to be legal as PIC. Not havng a dog in the fight, listening to the looooong debate at the quaterly safety meeting was good entertainment. And we had donuts.
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Donuts. Better than popcorn.
 
Sundancer said:
There was a hilarious contretemps at my former flying club - a student pilot was in the left seat, a PP in the right, and the club management had a hissy fit over it (the PP wasn't a CFI); after much yelling, reg searching, and righteous indignation it came down to "So what?" The FAA didn't care, and there wasn't a black-and-white club rule about it. The club Clydes wanted the PP expelled, or suspended, for "bad judgment" - I think we all knew the student was doing the flying, for fun, with a buddy in the right seat to be legal as PIC. Not havng a dog in the fight, listening to the looooong debate at the quaterly safety meeting was good entertainment. And we had donuts.
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It wasn't a flying club but that's how I learned to fly. My Dad is a PP, he put me in the left seat of the Cherokee and taught me to fly. I had 8 or 9 hours of that before I flew with a CFI for the 1st time.
 
I tried it once a long time ago...just happened to be in the right seat... dad was in the left... I was flying and rather than turn it over to him for the landing, thought I'd give it a shot... I was completely unprepared... Shortly after turning final I gave it to Dad!
 
Another question I have, is how do you account for the odd viewing angle when looking at your instruments. For instance, the ball on the inclinometer will always show slightly left, same with the reference lines on the AI and DG. Do you get a feel for that eventually and just take into account or do you find yourself leaning over towards the left seat to get a cleaner view?
 
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