Fun with Flying: Right-Seat Time

The weather's great this time of year in Northern California and
almost perfect for flying. Nevertheless I was getting bored with the
same $25 lunch trips which now were approaching $50. I wanted
something different that might also cause me to learn something new.

So last weekend I thought I'd teach myself to fly from the right seat.
Straight-off I gotta say, don't try this in a touchy or complicated
aircraft without an instructor. But I figured I could do it by myself
in my Aircoupe.

I took off from my home airport using the left seat as always to hop
over to an airport just a few miles away that has a much wider and
longer runway, 6000x100 feet. That offered more room to learn, though
it also had a right-hand pattern which I don't often practice. But
maybe that would work out well from the right-hand seat!

I landed and taxied over to the fuel pumps, where there is a little
room to park for a bit, and shut down. Switching to the right seat
was easy: just slide on over, strap on the harness on the new seat and
snug it closed the vacated seat. OK, let's see how things look....

Was I still in the same plane? I was amazed at how different
everything was. I instinctively reached for the control wheel with my
left hand, and didn't find the push-to-talk switch: it was on the
right side of the yoke for the right hand. My right hand was grasping
for a throttle which wasn't there; a moment later I watched my left
hand fumble around trying to find the ignition switch and starter.

OK, this is going to require some deliberate thought. I practiced
finding the controls and thought I was ready. My usual start sequence
is

mixture in,
master on,
pump throttle once (no primer knob),
pull starter,
let the prop turn about two seconds,
turn the ignition key to both;

after the engine catches

generator toggle on,
strobe toggle on,
avionics toggle on.

which I can do without thinking and have the engine ticking over
within 15 seconds; from the right seat it took almost a minute for my
hands to figure out what they were supposed to do and get things
turning.

Taxing was interesting too. The Aircoupe has toe brakes on both
rudder pedals on the left seat which operate the mains together, no
independent brakes. The right seat has only one toe brake on the left
rudder pedal. This makes it hard to brake and turn to the left at the
same time, but I dodged the fuel pumps and slowly made my way to the
runup area. By now I was getting a little more accustomed to the odd
sight picture and my hands were acquiring new reflexes. A runup gave
me a bit more practice and time to takeoff.

Acceleration was easy enough, but the first surprise came at rotation
and liftoff. The sight picture during climb was very different from
what I was used to, and the airspeed indicator was far, far away.
Fortunately the Coupe is a forgiving airplane so up we struggled to
pattern altitude. Turns were another shock but at least I had a great
view of the runway with the right-hand pattern.

The real test would come during landing. 100 hours of J-3 Cub time
helped a little, as that too required right hand on stick, left on
throttle. I concentrated deliberately on the throttle in case I needed
to save the landing, but the wide, long runway allowed for a safe but
sloppy touchdown. No touch-and-go this time. I let the plane slow,
taxied off, and paused for a second.

One trip around the pattern accomplished. How had it been? The
difference in a mere change of seating surprised me, yet I felt
reasonably safe throughout, though certainly challenged at times. I
felt good for another couple of pattern trips.

After a few landings the strangeness was over. My reflexes were still
slow and an engine-out emergency or similar would have tested my new
skills to the maximum, but it was worth the experience. Still in the
right seat, I departed again, this time to practice slow flight,
stalls, and steep turns.

When I finally landed at my home base over an hour later I was
satisfied. I will practice right-seat flying some more to polish the
skills and keep learning. Eventually when it is natural I can offer
passengers or fellow pilots the left seat should they wish to see what
it's like to fly a Coupe from the proper position. A new skill
acquired instead of redoing an old lunch trip.