"David Rind" wrote in message
...
running with scissors wrote:

As a question, why would you want to place a passenger in the left
seat? what purpose would it serve ?

There are regulations pertaining to this, and if you are indeed doing
your instructors rating you should have gained a reasonable knowledge
of the FAR's and furthermore have an understaning of CRM.

as we are all aware, many GA aircraft are equipped with "dual"
controls and instumentation, however, depending on the aircraft the
left seat is configured as the primary control station, with
reduced/limited access from the right seat, limited further if a body
is in that seat, limited even further if it is occupied by a non
pilot.

so again, what purpose would it serve to position a non pilot in the
left seat and place yourself in the right seat, why would you want to
limit access to full control of the aircraft.

you may be able to find a loophole in the FAR's, renters policy or
insurance requirements to allow you to do this "legally", though even
posing the question indicates a complete failure to understand CRM and
lack of professionalism. if i found one of my pilots acting in this
manner he would never be in one of my cockpits again forthwith.

You make it sound like some incredibly dangerous activity,
but CFI's fly from the right seat all the time and are expected
to be able to take over from that seat even if the student
has gotten the plane into a spin or is in an unusual attitude
in IMC. Why the terror about flying from the right?

Reasons you might want to sit on the right include allowing
the passenger to practice flying (not loggable toward a rating
if you're not a CFI, but that may not be important to you or
the passenger), and to practice for your CFI exam.

If you don't feel competent to fly from the right or feel like
there are important instruments or controls that you don't have
access to, then you shouldn't do it. But viewing it as a "loophole"
or "unprofessional" seems really over the top.

--
David Rind



I had to land our club's 172 from the right seat once, when my newly
licensed pilot friend couldn't quite get a crosswind landing down. I think I
was lucky. I was pretty familiar with the plane, but had never flown from
the right seat before. We now have a Cherokee 180 and I think I'd like to
get some right seat time for various reasons (the one above, to introduce a
friend to flying, or any number of emergency reasons). I think it would just
take some safe practice with a pilot in the left seat in case things just
weren't working right.