haveshavenots

Hi Convair340,
My hat is off to you that you are trying to introduce someone else to the joy and excitement of flying. Us old time fliers forget the first time we went up and took the controls.
I really don't think it's necessary to put her in the left seat to get the same value of excitement. In my opinion what is more important is the you take her up early in the morning on a nice clear, smooth day and let her fly. This proves to her that flying isn't some obscure skill that only the Greek Gods are blessed with. The biggest problem with general aviation today is that we exclude so many. Having the chain link fence and the locked gate these days doesn't help.
Again, congratulations on not losing sight of this special hobby/career and sharing your skill and love of flying with someone else.

Senior Skipper

Your rental contract may dictate that you sit on the left side. Check to be sure.

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usmc-sgt

Im with everyone else on this one. Just put her in the right seat and she will be thrilled and not even know that she is sitting on the "wrong" side anyway.

Also if you have never flown from the right seat do not start for the first time with a passenger. You will not only embarass yourself but may end up hurting yourselves or someone else. It is not a big deal at all but my first few landings in CFI training were a little squirrelly.

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the King

Actually, she'll think you're crazy if she sits on the left. We used to do flights for elementary teachers and new students and without fail they always started toward the right side. A couple of them gave me strange looks when I pointed them to the left side. She'll be fine on the right, besides, new pilots should learn to fly by outside reference anyhow.

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Ewfflyer

I'm joining the conga line, put'r in the right seat! No reason to jeopardize your ticket's, or rental agreement if something goes sour!!!

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tangoindia

Besides, right seat is kind of weird during the first hours...it just feels different. Then, you don't want to look bad on that landing when trying to impress that girl....jk

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TonyC

Why? Why do you want her in the left seat? Is it to impress her by letting her sit in the most important seat, or is it because he right side is more pleasant to look at?


It's a bit of a Catch 22, isn't it? You want her to be in the more special seat, but her being able to be there on the first flight (without an instructor) makes it less special.


I recommend sticking to what's comfortable and familiar -- fly from the left seat, `cuz that's the seat you've been trained in. I used to send solos out the door with the admonition to "Don't do anything dumb, dangerous, or different."


Stick to what you know.







.

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The truth only hurts if it should.

RomeoSierra

I would let your friend sit left seat but make sure they are aware of the swithches that can be easily switched my knees and so on. Might want to go up with a cfi for some landings to get use to the new picture from the right side. Have a tendancy to land not aligned with center line and could side load the landing very easily. Also your using the opposite hands on the controls takes a little practice to move yoke and throttle for the small adjustments on short final.

Convair340

Once again, thanks for the input. I requested information from my flying club, and they specifically prohibit non-CFIs from flying right seat. Written in writing...so that seals it.

piper338

I always set right seat that way when you have a bad day and slam it in on a 10,000ft runway you can point to the person setting in the left seat…. Just kidding