Title: Why does the pilot sit in the back in biplanes? [Archive] - PPRuNe Forums
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Content: Its all down to CofG.
Shaggy Sheep Driver
29th Oct 2001, 16:07
Then question was about biplanes, but I guess the principle applies to any tandem 2 seater. The Chippy is flown solo from the front, as is the Yak, Supercub, Citabria, and many others. The J3 (and L4) Cubs are flown solo from the back, as is Tiger Moth, Stampe etc. It just depends where the designer put the seats relative to the CG. But even that's not consistant; the Chippy, Yak, and Tiger are all trainers. The Chippy and Yak put the instructor in the back seat, so the student gets the best view and when he solos it will be from the seat he did his dual in. The Tiger puts the instructor in the front (I presume - please correct if wrong) so that once again the student solos from the same seat as he flew dual. But as someone has said, the best view from a Tiger is from the back seat. And Yak instructors must have faith in their new students - quite a bit of kit (including the vital cylinder head and oil cooler cowl flap controls) are omitted from the back cockpit.