Lawrence Sperry was a bon vivant  and party animal; he was known as Gyro;
he took the Sperry the gyro-compass, and developing an “autopilot” in 1912.

some time in 1916 he was flying across Sheepshead bay at 500 feet, next to JFK airport when he crashed.

the fisherman that picked him up from the water noted that the crash was sufficiently strong to knock all the clothes off Gyro and his lady friend, socialite Mrs. Waldo Polk.

and i do not know how he managed,
     but if the pilot straddles both seats in a modern airplane.....

peter