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Left Side/Right Side?

Left Side/Right Side?


  • Total voters
    103
I like to be the pilot, so: 'Left' is right for me.

If it's someone else's plane I'll settle for right seat.
 
I'm guessing that you're really asking is which hand do you prefer to use on the control stick in a side by side.

This was my solution for sitting left seat, but flying with the right hand on the control stick.
 

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putting a throttle quadrant on the left is a bit of extra work, and makes it inaccessible to a right-seat person.

So it seems to me that for those of us that fly right-hand only (I've tried the left some*) setting the airplane up to PIC from the right seat is an obvious and easy solution. I'm surprised it is not more common.

* I can fly tricycle gear with left hand well enough, but don't have the fine finesse to fly tailwheel with the left. I'd probably get used to it fairly fast, but would I do it 'fast enough'?
 
If it's a VFR flight either seat is good. I'm used to flying tendem planes: the stick in my right hand, throttle,prop and mixture in the left hand.

Most side by side planes are set up (with a few exceptions) with the fight instruments or PFD's on the left. If it's a IFR trip; it is easier to be in the left seat in order for a practical safer view of the essentials.
 
Lots of radios are set up to be on the right side of the pilot and tuned with the right hand, so that your hand doesn't block the view of the screen.

I've found over the years that taking a hand off the stick to tune radios is not that big a deal.

From time to time, you will see truly "unique" cockpits, like set up to be flown from the right seat with throttle prop mixture right to left instead of conventional left to right. Please don't tell those folks that military piston planes, with the quadrant on the pilot's left, were throttle prop mixture left to right.
 
As a cfii I get plenty of time in the right seat - but still prefer to fly from the left. ("first learned, best learned?"). I think I'm about the same (equally bad -:) ) from either seat with the stick; but it's all the little things (tuning radios, etc) that I'm much worse with from the right seat (I'm very much right handed). I can't figure out how to write down a clearance with my left hand. And give me a 650, from the right seat I'll hit the wrong thing on the touch screen 50% of the time! Yes, sometimes I swap hands to do these things, but that always feels a bit awkward.
 
This comes up from time to time, not too sure why as a pilot should be able to adapt! Having flown l/h, r/h on Airbus as well as other jets, tandem (RV8), most Cessna’s, plenty of other RV’s it just comes natural!
 
I flew the SF260 for a little while, and they were all setup for PIC to sit in the right seat. Instruments were on the right. I rather enjoyed that, and if I ever swap from RV-8 to RV-7, I suspect I’ll set it up that way. Or at least with 2 G3X screens that can swap from PFD to MFD.
 
My -9A is set up to fly PIC from the RHS, just personal preference. Panel is symmetrical bar the KLN-90 underneath on the right side.
 
I fly on the left hand side. The RV-6 has a left hand throttle, the RV-10 has a right hand throttle. The adjustment from left hand to right hand on throttle or stick is pretty minor, IMO.
 
I prefer Left seat but made myself competent in Left, Right, or Center depending what plane I’m in at the moment & who I’m giving a ride too.
 
For me, the preference of where to locate the particular controls that can be placed on either side to accommodate pilot preference comes down to how comfortable I'd be trying to tune radios and operate touch screen features with my sinister hand. The answer is, that'd be about like having ten thumbs. Why would I even consider doing that to myself?

I'd vastly prefer to keep a steadying hand on the stick whilst I do avionics things and jot down kneepad notes with my dominant right hand. Flying with my left hand has never been an issue as it's how I learned from the first day in the C-150.
 
No Big Deal

I trained originally in a Cessna 150 like most pilots my age. Had my left hand on the steering wheel, of course. Got in a little trouble once for soloing a 150 from the right seat because the guy who ran the FBO didn’t like it. Oh well. Transitioned to taildraggers in a Champ, flying right handed. I did a fair bit of flying in Champs, Citabrias, Cubs, all those, then sat down in a J-4 Cub Coupe that made me fly with my right hand. I caught myself flying cross-handed a couple of times but caught on fine. About 30 years later, we bought our RV-6 and I worried a little about flying left handed. I checked myself out, hardly noticing flying with the other hand. Really, it’s just not A Thing for me and I’m honestly a little mystified at the problems folks have changing from one to the other. It’s far easier than changing hands for throwing, batting, writing or playing a guitar. All that said, I prefer the left seat if I’m steering but it’s still not a big deal for me. As I told that guy at the FBO all those years ago, the right seat is only about 18 inches from the left seat. And my instructor stuck up for me.
 
Left seat, right seat, stick, yoke, whatever. I just do some of that pilot shift, Mav.

But, truthfully, when I was hired to fly as a Traffic Pilot in a C172, the Radio talent sat in the left seat because traditionally that job was done using helicopters where the HAC was in the right seat. I DID ask for a training flight where I flew solo from the right. And, it was, in fact, a nothing burger.
 
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Like a lot of people, I learned to fly left-seat in a Cessna but also flew Citabrias/Decathlons and got comfortable with a stick in my right hand. Last year, I got checked out in a Diamond DA40 (which has a stick) flying in the left seat which was the first plane with a stick that I flew from the left seat.

I bought my RV-10 about 3 months ago and it was set up to be flown from the right seat - even though there are 2 large EFIS screens one for each seat, the backup EFIS is way on the right side and a couple of other things are set up better for right seat flying. In my transition training, I decided to give the right seat a try but realized that it was going to be tough to transition into the plane and the right seat in 5 hours so I went back to the left seat.

After getting around 25-30 hours in the plane and getting very comfortable in the left seat, I gave the right seat another try. By the second flight, my landings were passable but what I didn't care for (like Bob mentioned above) was writing and manipulating the radio and GPS with my left hand particularly for IFR flying, so for now, I decided to go back to the left seat.
 
Having over 8,000 hours in Helicopters, I prefer to have the power in my left and, and the stick in the right. That's one of the many reasons I built my all Garmin panel in the 10 symmetrical, and love it! What's funny is when I taxi in to a strange airport, many of the line guys assume the PIC is in the left seat, which many times is a kid or the S.O. (significant other, second officer, take your pick):)........
 
Whatever. As long as I can reach everything, I don't particularly care, but I've got many, many hours flying from the right seat.

I vaguely remember how awkward it felt for the first couple of hours, but that was back when dinosaurs roamed the earth...
 
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