engine numbering conventions

[wyverns]

Hi all

I'm curious as to the origins of the convention for numbering aircraft engines according to their wing positions.

As far as I'm aware, it's number 1 outboard on the port side, number two inner port, etc. Is this correct?

Does anyone know where this started?

regards

BC

[Capt Claret]

wyverns

My guess is that because the aeroplane is predominantly an invention of people who read & write from left to right then that convention applied to numbering the engines. #1 is outer left (port) then count on....

Perhaps if the aeroplane had been invented by da Vinci (who supposedly wrote right to left) or the Arab world, the numbering would be the other way around.

[spannersatcx]

Does anyone know where this started?

It started from the left!:ok:

Sorry couldn't resist that.

[enicalyth]

I had a Peugeot 203 of 1960's vintage that numbered its cylinders from the flywheel end. I also knew a humorous captain who thought that the first engine to start ought to be the one furthest from him i.e. starboard outer!

[Capt Claret]

enicalyth

Along similar lines, if I remember correctly the Nord 262 had two NiCad batteries situated longitinally in the nose. #1 battery was the aft battery and #2 was the foreward! Perhaps French numbering is relative to the driver/operator?

[N1 Vibes]

Gent's

I understand the convetnion comes from a nautical background. As the aircraft, has also been an airship, aeroplane etc. The senior pilot sits in the left hand seat, port side. Apparently to observe boarding passengers and cargo, same as on a ship. And yes I think the left to right writing mentality then applies, when viewed from the pilots position, ie aft looking forward.

Brgd's

N1 Vibes;)

[Old Smokey]

It's interesting that Boeing, who for years used an engine numbering system (1,2,3,4, etc.) have reverted to Left and Right for the B777. A sign of the times I guess, ETOPS seems here to stay.

With the A380 the only new aircraft projected with more than 2 engines, maybe we'll have to learn un, deux, trois, quatre as a part of our new vocabulary.

With tongue in cheek,

Old Smokey