Learning to fly the SR20 from the right seat.

I just spent two intense hours learning to fly the Cirrus from the right seat.

It’s going to take a while for me to get comfortable with it.

Probably at least two or three more sessions like this one, maybe more.

I decided to learn this so I could offer the left seat when taking other pilots flying and so I would feel more comfortable riding in the right seat when flying as a passenger.

I hadn’t flown from the right seat for over ten years and that was in a 172 which took a little practice but I don’t remember it being as difficult to learn.

In the Cirrus I still need more practice to get the muscle memory working for the opposite hand use but what may take longer is just learning what straight ahead looks like from the right seat.

I didn’t have trouble with rotation but my instructor was calling for left rudder when I wanted to put in right rudder when barely off the runway for landing.

It is quite a different view ahead from the right seat.

The view of the flight instruments is quite good from the right seat and the I really appreciated the familiar and excellent control and instrument layout while the perspective and opposite hand thing were a challenge.

The training at Duluth seemed much easier.

The only time I needed an instructor more after solo was probably when one took me up in a Cessna 140 for my first tailwheel experience.

Of course for pilots experienced in right seat flying this may not be a big deal but for others like me, don’t even consider trying to fly from the right seat without adequate instruction.

My instructor had flown previously in my SR20 and was checked out in one of the SR20 prototypes by Scott Anderson in 1996.

He flew a couple of circuits from the right seat and then a couple from the left seat for familiarization before I flew maneuvers from the right seat and then practiced the landings.