Flying the right seat (do I need a CFI)

[EdFred]

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?

I lean over to get a better view. But after a while you can feel it being uncoordinated.

 

[mjburian]

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?

You get used to the parallax. Early on, you'll probably lean over (or want to) but after some practice and locking in the picture of what "centered" looks like you'll just fly like you do from the left seat... just with slightly different visual indications for the same attitude.

 

[sarangan]

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?

It would be useful to have a pilot on the left seat at least for the first flight. I've run into quirks, such as no brakes on the right side, or no push-to-talk switch on the right side. You don't want to discover them while airborne.

 

[Zeldman]

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.

Did those doughnuts have bacon on them..???

 

[Zeldman]

Flying the right seat

I have heard some people fly their plane from the rear seat......

 

[sarangan]

Actually, a bigger issue is not being able to see the airspeed pointer at very low speeds, especially if the gauge is recessed into the panel. I had this issue on several airplanes. If the student gets too slow I had to lean over to take a look.

 

[denverpilot]

Actually, a bigger issue is not being able to see the airspeed pointer at very low speeds, especially if the gauge is recessed into the panel. I had this issue on several airplanes. If the student gets too slow I had to lean over to take a look.

LOL. I can’t see the ASI from the right seat of my airplane almost at all. Neither could @jesse. He told me not to kill him.

Honestly though what I did was memorize angles. You can see enough of the needle to know that when it’s pointing straight at you, the simulated student isn’t yet trying to kill you both, or that you’re not flying the demonstration too slow.

 

[Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe]

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?

I would assume that actual IFR would be a bit more of an issue than VFR from the right seat. But, not having an AI or DG, I wouldn't know how big a deal those are.

 

[Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe]

I don't have brake pedals on either side

The big lever in the middle with the black knob...