How many Piets have Dual Controls? What about cabane struts?

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Stroid
Posts: 12
Joined: Sun Sep 15, 2019 3:51 pm

How many Piets have Dual Controls? What about cabane struts?

Post by Stroid »

Getting a second Piet this Thanksgiving. It only has rear controls and bracing wires instead of cabane struts. Is this very unusual? Im sure less than desirable?
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taildrags
Posts: 637
Joined: Tue Mar 07, 2017 10:39 pm

Re: How many Piets have Dual Controls? What about cabane struts?

Post by taildrags »

I don't think I've seen any Piets that don't have at least partial controls up front (stick, rudder pedals, throttle), but quite a few people remove the front stick to make it easier to get non-pilot passengers in and out or to stow gear. Not having controls up front means it won't be possible to safely give someone a checkout in the plane (such as a potential buyer), other than talking them through operations and maneuvers via headsets and intercom.

My Piet has no instruments up front. It also lacks three controls up front that I consider to be essential to safety of flight: a carb heat control, fuel shutoff control, and ignition switch. It also lacks brakes up front, but those aren't the same level of "essential" as the other three I've mentioned. Flying the airplane from the front is how I learned and got checked out in mine, but during my familiarization and checkout flights, the rear cockpit was occupied by my CFI, who is very experienced in these airplanes and who knew and understood when the three missing controls up front would be required.

As to the lack of cabane brace tubes, the original Air Camper design used the cable braces and they work structurally but make it more difficult to get in and out of the front cockpit. The tubes can be added. Well, dual controls can also be added, for that matter. Anything is possible ;o)
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