left hand seat???
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left hand seat???
hey people,
this may sound a bit of a please get a life question,however one of our freight loaders asked me why the pilot/captain(for multicrew)always sits in the left hand seat of the aircraft.
i am aware this is not the case with alot of larger helicopters.
any idea's
cheers
this may sound a bit of a please get a life question,however one of our freight loaders asked me why the pilot/captain(for multicrew)always sits in the left hand seat of the aircraft.
i am aware this is not the case with alot of larger helicopters.
any idea's
cheers
I knew my taxpayer funded History Degree would one day come in handy!!! 
The generally accepted reason is that at the beginning of the First World War, as aviation steadily grew and it became apparent that many of the traditional forces of warfare would have little use in the trenches, the RFC (amongst others) took large numbers of officers from cavalry and other horse equipped units.
In the eyes of many former mounted officers, the aeroplane was the new horse, and was mounted from the left side only. (No, I don't know where that tradition came from). Single seat fighters to this day are entered from the left only. (Next time you see an F/A-18 or any other single seater at an airshow have a look which side internal ladder and anti slip panel is).
This philosophy has transferred to side by side aircraft, where the captain takes the "correct" seat. It has nothing to do with Americans and cars!!!
As for helicopters, a RW mate told me it was because if you are single pilot in a helo, you need to be in the RHS as it possible to take your left hand off the collective to do tasks ie change freq's etc but not take your right hand off the cyclic. Sounds plausible to me!
Right, I'm taking my anorak off and going to the pub...
The generally accepted reason is that at the beginning of the First World War, as aviation steadily grew and it became apparent that many of the traditional forces of warfare would have little use in the trenches, the RFC (amongst others) took large numbers of officers from cavalry and other horse equipped units.
In the eyes of many former mounted officers, the aeroplane was the new horse, and was mounted from the left side only. (No, I don't know where that tradition came from). Single seat fighters to this day are entered from the left only. (Next time you see an F/A-18 or any other single seater at an airshow have a look which side internal ladder and anti slip panel is).
This philosophy has transferred to side by side aircraft, where the captain takes the "correct" seat. It has nothing to do with Americans and cars!!!
As for helicopters, a RW mate told me it was because if you are single pilot in a helo, you need to be in the RHS as it possible to take your left hand off the collective to do tasks ie change freq's etc but not take your right hand off the cyclic. Sounds plausible to me!
Right, I'm taking my anorak off and going to the pub...
Last edited by Double Asymmetric; 18th May 2003 at 21:30.
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Nothing to do with early aircraft having a natural (torque effect) tendency to turn left (untrimmed, hands & feet off), hence left circuits.
Whilst these early aircraft were mostly single seaters with the advent of side by side seating, left circuits were and still are 'standard', the pilot was seated where they could see the circuit ie in the left hand seat. Otherwise I have got no idea!!!
Disco Stu
Whilst these early aircraft were mostly single seaters with the advent of side by side seating, left circuits were and still are 'standard', the pilot was seated where they could see the circuit ie in the left hand seat. Otherwise I have got no idea!!!
Disco Stu
I'm gone - that's so true!
Used to work as Ground Crew for one of the regionals and had the difficult task of keeping a straight face as the skippers gave the SLF scores out of ten...they couldn't be seen but I sure could!
Some of the guys had pretty interesting taste in women!
TL
Used to work as Ground Crew for one of the regionals and had the difficult task of keeping a straight face as the skippers gave the SLF scores out of ten...they couldn't be seen but I sure could!
Some of the guys had pretty interesting taste in women!
TL
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Going back to double Assymetric's post, I understand that the only requirements to enter the fledgling RFC were that :
1) You were an officer
2) You knew how to ride a horse.
Something to do with being of good character, and obviously all horse riding officers were of good character.
Another interesting stat I read a long time ago is that there were more pilots killed in the first war during training, than in actual combat. Due to the unreliability of aero engines at the time, and their tendency to lose power during takeoff, or the massive torque of the rotary engines used then, which would throw a pilot into a spin which was hard to recover from.
1) You were an officer
2) You knew how to ride a horse.
Something to do with being of good character, and obviously all horse riding officers were of good character.
Another interesting stat I read a long time ago is that there were more pilots killed in the first war during training, than in actual combat. Due to the unreliability of aero engines at the time, and their tendency to lose power during takeoff, or the massive torque of the rotary engines used then, which would throw a pilot into a spin which was hard to recover from.
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Double Assymetric. Mounting from the left? So why's my Cherokee only got a door on the right? Can you really not mount a horse from the right? I knew I had something wrong there - and to think, stopped trying to mount horses altogether.
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My sister rides horses... she told me once that the reason horses are mounted from the left is that in older times, officers in the cavalry wore their swords on the left (to be able to draw quickly with their right hand) , and otherwise the sword would get in the way. It's just been tradition from then on - the horses became used to it.
Adam
Adam
