Simviation Forums

Hello,

Why is it that the instructor used to sit in the back in older, two seat trainers?


A.

because you would fly from the backseat in solo flights. It gives the student a good view aswell.

And there was me thinking that it was so that in the event of a crash the instructor had the pleasure of knowing the student would die before him

Hello,

Why is it that the instructor used to sit in the back in older, two seat trainers?


A.

It depends on the trainer. In say a Harvard or a Chipmunk he'd sit in the back as the student would solo from the from seat. Previous to that I'm fairly sure the instructor would sit in the front in older biplane aircraft like the Tiger Moth, Avro 504 etc, again so the student solo's from the seat he's used to flying from.

With modern aircraft tandem training types the problem of visibility has be slightly alleviated by raising the height of the rear seat (Hawk, Alpha Jet, Tucano, Pilatus PC-9), a technique ably used by the WWII Miles Master trainer...

Of course, this British system used to be a lot easier with side by side seating throughout the system, from the Jet Provost trainer, the Hunter T.7 and then the Lightning (T4/5). This always had the advantage of the student being permanently in fear of the possibility of physical attack by his instructor if he made stupid mistakes...

Kind of off topic, but I'm glad to say I actually know what a Jet Provost is now!  The airshow I attended last weekend had one fly for the airshow!  Awesome little jet!


As for flying something like a Cub where you solo from the back... I'd imagine it was so the student have a big head blocking their view so they can have the same sight picture.  Also, that way the student can also see the flight (albeit limited) instruments without the instructor in the way.  

[quote]Kind of off topic, but I'm glad to say I actually know what a Jet Provost is now!

This always had the advantage of the student being permanently in fear of the possibility of physical attack by his instructor if he made stupid mistakes...

Actually this technique has been used before with the instructor seated in the rear. Three heavy blows to the back of student's head were needed to free his frozen  hands from the controls on late finals.