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Why Airplane Pilots Sit on the Left Side
Behind many of the things we do in flying lies a long history. This often dates well before flying. Have you ever wondered why left patterns are standard? Before airplanes and cars, men rode horses. Most people are right handed. As a matter of good practice weapons were carried on the right side and kept available to the right hand. Since it was always desirable to keep the right hand and weapon available, horses were mounted from the left side. using the left hand for lift by pulling on the saddle horn. To keep the right hand free from attack on the narrow roads of England they rode on the left side of the track. This forced an attacker to cross an open space. This also kept the right hand available for for attack or defense against oncoming travelers. I have not yet found the logic for why the Americans drive on the right side.
By happenstance, the military cavalry was the least dogmatic of the services in all countries. When the military adopted the airplane, the cavalry was the natural choice for pilot selection. The cavalry looked upon the airplane as another mode of transportation like the horse. Best to be mounted from the left as by habit. Early cavalrymen nee' pilots were even required to wear spurs. Did I really say the least dogmatic of the services?
You will need to search old film very hard to see an old time aircraft being mounted from the right by the pilot. I have never seen such. In fact, most passengers mounted from the left. When aircraft were designed for side by side seating, the pilot in command (captain) sat on the left. The preferred pattern direction was left because that gave the pilot better visibility. By convention the standard traffic pattern is now to the left.
WHY PILOTS WALK FUNNY
Ever wonder why propeller pilots walk funny? They do. The P-factor explanation from the instructors handbook tells the instructor how to explain this to the student. It has nothing to do with how much liquid consumed? Part of the difficulty comes from having two or more generations of pilots, none of whom have had the opportunity to drive a team of Missouri Canaries. Mules that is. This educational and experience deficiency can be partially overcome while explaining the P-factor. Thereby leading to the ultimate answer of the initial question.
Start with an airplane which has the training wheel under the nose. A Cessna 152 will do. With all three wheels on the ground the student should be carefully walked around the propeller to note that, when the aircraft and propeller is horizontal, the blades each form approximately an 11 degree angle in pitch from the vertical. The airplane should be imagined as a wagon and the painted tips of the blades as harnessed to two mules of identical size and strength. In this configuration the wagon (airplane) would be pulled straight ahead until made to gee or haw. Gee meaning right and haw meaning left. O.K. so far?
Now have the instructor hold the aircraft tail down while the student observes the angle from vertical the pitch of each propeller blade. The left blade is near vertical while the right blade has doubled its angle. Now the airplane/wagon suddenly has two completely different mules. The left blade mule becomes of donkey size or less while the right blade becomes a dray that once pulled a beer wagon. Now which way will the wagon, nee airplane, go? Will it gee or haw?
More often than not our last two generations of student pilots will chose the wrong direction. The odoriferous experience of mule driving having been denied them. Using the wing struts to move the airplane should show the student the error of his ways. Then it follows as the night the day that in a climb attitude an appropriate application of right rudder is needed to keep the airplane on the straight if not narrow. Whatever it takes to prevent a "haw" Which, of course, leads us in the great cyclonic circle to the answer of the initial question. It takes a lot of "Gee" Leg to prevent a "Haw".