Boarding pax A/C: Always on the left?

[Maxbert]

A search came up blank, so here goes:

I got to thinking the other day that every passenger flight I have taken, boarding was always on the left side, never the right. IIRC on nearly all aircraft I have flown on, the doors are symmetrical, ie same number and position on both sides of the aircraft.

Is there any reason for boarding on the left, rather than the right of a plane? Could both sides not be used for speedier disembarking? Ditto, and assuming a very organised check-in (and PAX), could not both sides be used for boarding, on large aircraft at least?

Maxbert

[Captain Capstan]

The passenger doors on the left of the aircraft are sometimes larger than the service doors on the right even though they look similar. All airbridges are positioned on the left side of the aircraft and the right side is used for loading and offloading baggage and freight and for aircraft servicing. To get the turnround times as short as possible the galley servicing is often also being done whilst passengers are embarking and disembarking meaning the right side doors are not available. One of the biggest hold ups is that most airports only have a single airbridge per stand so only one door is available for passenger use.

[Maxbert]

Crystal clear, CC, many thanks!

Maxbert

[one11]

Some early DC-3s, including the first - see below, had the door on the right apparently as American Airlines wanted it kept the same as their earlier Ford Trimotors . One of the early ones was the pattern for all Russian production (Li-2) so most of those had the right door too and the feature was continued on the subsequent Ilyushin IL-12 and 14.


http://i637.photobucket.com/albums/uu98/viscount700/prune3005.jpg

[Fernanjet]

Some early DC-3s, including the first - see below, had the door on the right apparently as American Airlines wanted it kept the same as their earlier Ford Trimotors . One of the early ones was the pattern for all Russian production (Li-2) so most of those had the right door too and the feature was continued on the subsequent Ilyushin IL-12 and 14.


Hardly relevant in this day and age is it.....?
Unless Jet2 have found a couple more old aircraft to use!!

[jetset lady]

Maybe not but I'd love to see the dispatcher trying to get the jetty on if you rolled up in one of those....

"Err...Capt..where's the door...on the other side you say...ahh..hang on a minute..let me see if I can get it round there.......no....nope...it's not gonna go....can't get the swing on it...any possibility you can reverse it in...no....Ok, righty oh......STEPS!"

I'll get my coat, shall I? :O

[WHBM]

There were indeed right-hand boarding DC3s for American pre-WW2, but that was an exception. This was a custom modification to the airframe to be arranged this way. Likewise there are a couple of gates I have known at USA airports which used right-hand boarding, generally the gate nearest the terminal which had ended up stuck in a corner of a cul-de-sac and it was the only practical way to carry on using the gate with jetways. They are regarded as a nuisance, and are only practical because jets, unlike the DC3, are produced with symmetrical doors on both sides..

Left hand boarding as standard comes about because most people are right handed .... it happens like this. Early aircraft controls were generally up the centre of the aircraft (often still are), and so once there were two crew rather than one the commander sat on the left because they are better manipulated with the right hand. Before jetways and push-back tractors, it was standard for aircraft to make a semi-circle to the parking position in front of the terminal to arrive and leave, as you still see at smaller points or even London City. If the commander is on the left they will want to do this clockwise, and stop with the aircraft door on the left, rather than the opposite way round, to judge their wingtip clearances better out of the window on their own side. So the passengers will be getting off on the left side, straight into the terminal, and thus the fuellers, caterers and baggage handlers will want to be on the right side, to be out of their way.

[PaperTiger]

There were indeed right-hand boarding DC3s for American pre-WW2, but that was an exception.Some Convair 240s were built post-war with r/h doors. American was the launch customer but others using the r/h ('A' configuration) were Continental, Argentinas, Northeast and CAT China.

There was also a 'B' configuration with ventral access only (cf. Martin) for which Western was the main customer.

[Load Toad]

Because comrade, left is ideologically sound and politically correct,

[Bullethead]

G'day Maxbert,

Another reason the pax entry is on the LHS is that apart from galley supplies being loaded from the RHS most modern airliners have their cargo loading doors on the RHS so cargo/baggage loading and pax boarding can be done simultaneously.

Regards,
BH.

[Nicholas49]

Is it not also so that the captain, sitting in the left-hand seat, can see the passengers boarding (at least on an A319 etc.) and deal with any potential trouble-makers in a timely fashion? ;)

[Load Toad]

Most people are right handed - if a pilot is going to turn to throw bricks at passengers then a turn to the left is easiest. Not necessarily bricks - any heavy object thrown well will bring down a passenger - especially the old ones.

[barry lloyd]

Like many things in aviation, it's origins are in naval procedure. The port side of a ship is named for a specific reason, and most passenger ships will tie up to the port side. As others have stated, it's principally because the service areas are on the starboard side of the aircraft.
In my early days in aviation, (before airbridges), I was told that it was unlucky to disembark the passengers from the starboard side, but that's pure superstition I suppose:)

[glhcarl]

Could both sides not be used for speedier disembarking?

I think you would find the location of the cargo doors would make disembarking (and embarking) much harder from the right side of the aircraft?

[tcr2]

I can think of only two flights as a passanger where i didn't board on the left side of the aircraft. Both flights involved use of the rear stairs, once on a 727-200, the other a BAC 1-11.

[Load Toad]

They don't often let you use the back door do they.

[Peter47]

The 747 was designed to be boarded from both sides and I believe that the Pan Am Worldport at JFK (Now Delta Terminal 3) had three jetties at each of the six 747 stands, two on the left side and one of the right. The latter was removed at some stage and the apertures bricked up. I don't know how long they were used for, if at all.

I have just looked at a couple of aviation books published in the 70s and there are several pictures of 747s with jetties attached both sides at airports such as Orly.

A couple of respondents have commented about the need to load catering supplies. I would imagine that the idea was that passengers would disembark, jetty retracted, catering truck do its business and jetty reattached, but the procedure probably didn't work out in practise.

It can take 40 up to minutes to load a 747. I would have thought that it would make sense to have two jetties serving economy. Of course Schiphol (and possibly other airports) attempted to solve the problem by having an additional jetty docking to the rear door (on the left hand side) but the design is cumbersome and the rear jetties do not appear to be in use now.

I was about to make a throw away comment about there being multiple steps on both sides if Ryanair operated 747s but you would have to limit loading to one side of the ramp for health & safety / security reasons. They could try and use four sets of sets to minimise boarding times though.