EC120, certified for both left or right! 300 and 500's are left-hand seat, makes slingloading easier i was told...

The UH-1D is a very different beast to fly from the left....there's only half the instrument panel, and you sit 6 inches lower in the hover.

Lu,

I thought that the Bell 47 was certified to be flown from the left seat.

As the first properly certified helicopter, I was led to believe that this was just a case of following what happened in the fixed wing world and allocating the captain the left seat. Only after some time did common sense prevail and the majority of subsequent helicopters defaulted us drivers to the right.

I await my re-education:8

Which seat is right?
 

To: Bomber ARIS

This may well be true. However, the USCG flew their HTL-1s from the right hand seat.

:E :E

There is no requirement to fly from any particular seat in the Bell 47. PIC tends to fly in the left seat because the starter is that side but other than that the controls are the same. The instructor sits on the right but there is no legal requirement to do so, in fact we often swap over depending on what we happen to be doing at the time.

Regards,

Chopperpilot47

So, then. Do we yet have a consensus on the following:
If a helicopter is specified by the makers to be only flown solo from the right seat (e.g. R22) - for whatever reason, is there anything to prevent a pilot from legally taking the left seat when he/she flies with a passenger?
If so, would there be anything to stop an instructor flying left seat with a passenger - e.g. when a flight cannot be a training flight because it doesn't start/end at a licensed aerodrome?

Right hand seat?
 

Why do helicopter pilots generally sit in the right seat when fixed wing pilots sit in the left?

Because fixed wing pilots do not have tail rotors

:8

"generally sit in the right seat"

Jucky, you are sure? ;)

http://www.ils-online.ch/cgi-bin/alb...llDSC_1506.JPG

Maybe the place you must seat in depends in the rotor spin direction..to counter the rolling torque due to adv blade.. ?

RHS versus LHS pilot seating
 

Easier to reach over with left hand to center console to change transponder codes, radio frequencies, change CD's, etc whilst RH is flying cyclic?

FW easier to fly so pilot sits on LHS, traditional to auto's (except in UK, NZ, Australia).

From ancient times vessels were steered from the right hand side, for some reason the fixed wing people have got it all wrong.

WHY THE RIGHT SIDE OF A BOAT IS CALLED THE STARBOARD SIDE

Viking ships were steered with an oar-like rudder called a styri, attached to the right-hand side of the ship near the stern. The Vikings called this side of the ship stjornbordi. Today the right-hand side of any boat is known as the starboard side.

Actually "Stjornbordi" means in Icelandic "the side you steer from". For those that do not know, the Icelandic language is stiill very much the same language that was spoken by Norsemen (Nordic people! Not to be confused with Norwegians) around and before year 1000.

XT244, please ride with an instructor (soon!) and have him demonstrate a proper 3' hover. It's about waist-height on an average man and should be used whenever ground obstructions do not prevent it (e.g. airports, etc). That's such a proud old square-gear 47, I'd hate to see it turn into a curved-gear model the hard way.

I seem to recall reading once that the first few pilots to fly 2-seat rotary aircraft were all experienced FW pilots used to sitting on the left - so they did. They then checked out the next generation, but hadn't really got the hang of flying helicopters yet so stayed in the left seat where they were happy.

So, the second (and rather larger) generation of helicopter pilots were taught to fly in the right hand seat, and the habit stuck.

This could of-course be complete urban myth - I've no idea, I wasn't there.

G

There must be a dozen or so threads on this subject in the archives. It comes up every few months. The 'search' link is at the top of the page.

Link to a merged thread
here

Only time I sit in the left hand seat is when i have actually to fly a 300 or 500 normally - sit in the right and let student fly. Then again when loadlifting in 500 easier to stick your head out and see from left seat than it would be a right seat machine. Then again I regularly fly an SA341 so I am in the right seat - but then I have to use a different power pedal !

The EC120 is certified to be flown from either seat by day but the right seat by night.

This has been dealt with lots of times. I spoke to the Bell representative the last time this came up and he said there is no reason why one should fly from one side or the other apart from where they choose to site the starter and useful switches. There is no aerodynamic reason, the c of g has nothing to do with it and the direction the rotor turns makes no difference. In other words the manufacturer decides where they want the pilot to sit and puts the starter and switches that side.

Instructors sit the other side to the student who sits in the P1 position. The student starts the machine but after that it makes no practical difference where anyone sits.

Regards,

Chopperpilot47

When conducting sling-load and sitting on the "right" side, depending of the clockwise/anti-clockwise MR, will give you a better view while hovering and looking down.

Let's really confuse this....how about the Hiller, Bell, and early Sikorsky models that you fly from the center seat? Despite being in the center seat....the collective was still in the left hand....I think the better question is why is the collective on the left hand side and the cyclic stick between yer knees (except for some really unique machines) ?;)

Hmmm... Why right by night?

'Why EC120 on right at night?'

All the primary flight instruments are all on the right with GPS etc on the left side of the console so it is easier to to be on the right with instruments directly in front of you.

BillyWhizz

Hmmm... OK, so the philosphy applied is (as has been said before) that you need to be an instrument flyer by night. Makes sense. Thanks.

Fly Another Day

It could be that the right hand seat night restriction applies to our machine as we have the Sandel HSI fitted. Whilst this is an excellent piece of kit, it is difficult to read if you are not sitting directly in front of it.

Of course, a Bell47 was flown from the left.

Now I have checkout the Flight Manual again. All I have found is this:

FLIGHT MANUAL
Helicopter Agusta-Bell AB47G-3B-1
Issue dated 8.1.1964 on Page 1-8

„Basis configuration of the helicopter permits his use as a three place aircraft limited to VFR day and night operating conditions“

Nothing about right or left. „three place“ thats all .........
Remember, this manual was printet 1964.
Maybe, it was a other time. :confused:

Re fixed wing, I always thought PIC was left seat because a standard circuit is left hand. Or did the left circuit come because of the left seat?

Thinking about standard circuits and departures are left hand, why is it that standard holding patterns are right hand?

Martin1234,

Whether your blades turn one way or the other, the collective is always on your left, therefor it is easiar to sling from the left seat. This is most prevelant in the S-61 where slinging (Long-Line) from the right seat is virtually impossible due to the distance from seat to window. Even in a 205, the prefered seat for slinging is the Left seat.

The real reason we have the Right Seat designated as the command seat is because, we as Rotary Wing pilots, are very stubborn and want to be different from Plank drivers!

:ok: OffshoreIgor :ok:

Pilot sits on the ....?
 

Which side should a helicopter pilot sit on... bear with me :

I am training on R22s and sit on the right, many films have the pilots on the left (is this because the real pilot is on the right and actor on the left?),

or is it just the same as U.S. and U.K. cars?

Any Ideas

depends on the certification - Early H300c's, you sit on the left, the 300Cbi, you're on the right ! Strange, but true !

TFS

Unless of course you have the 3 seat conversion for the CBi, pilot back on the left again.

V.

Three seats across the front, pilot sits on left (no room for collective otherwise).

Generally the pilot needs to keep hold of the cyclic, and can let go of the collective to change radio freqs or scratch b@lls. Having to change hands when in the left seat can be confusing - was I changing frequencies, or having a scratch?

Movies - don't believe them, they always have the Huey sound for rotor noise and a C20 for an engine, no matter what machine is in shot.:ugh:

Thought it was a C of G issue in the 22 with the tanks being of different capacities

Chopski,

My understanding of the R22 is that 'it is, sort of'. Without trying to put words into Frank's mind, the pilot was placed on the RHS first in the initial design. (Simpler mechanics for collective down the centre of the a/c, left hand available for radios etc). The main tank was then placed on the left for balance.

(The aux tank was only an afterthought - ie not included in the original design - and so had to be put on the right).

But like I said, I'm not Frank, have never spoken to him about it, have not even met him, so I could be wrong. It makes sense to me though.


Regards,

B73

What chopski said makes sense - perhaps it is the same for most smaller heli's,

Just quickly back to what "Disguise Delimit" said about the Movies is so true,

The best exapmle I ever saw was on the film GOLDENEYE - James bond - This black R22 comes out of a train and noise is some huge jet engine? And then when it lifts off - its a piston engine again...!

Plus I never saw the pilot check the essentials! LoL!

RHM

Ok, here comes a semi-educated guess, but I do think I've heard it somewhere...

The command seat is on the right in helicopters out of old habit (large helicopters) and ease of construction (SP helicopters). With the pilot to the right the mechanics involved to get his inputs to the rotor are shorter and simpler which also equals less weight. You save a few feet of push-rods and might use the space for something else. But since most helicopters today have the option of dual controls, it's back to the old habit reason. And not to forget: Plank-drivers have the command-seat to the left so helicopters must be different (also old habit). ;)
Another way that helicopters are different is in that the pilot-seats are sometimes comfy in airplanes, but that's another thread...

/2beers

Enstrom P1 on the left as the centre collective is removable to provide the middle seat. Can be flown P1 from the right but the start button is a long, long way away on the end of the left collective lever. With Enstrom lateral weight & balance is irrelevant. Its just down to practical limitations.

The pilot has to let go of the collective and hold the cyclic with the left hand while operating radio, mixture, etc with the right. Not a problem though. If the engine stops whilst messing with the mixture, the juggling to try an in flight restart is awesome. I know. it happened to me.:ooh:

Captain on left... pilot on right
 

Hi there.
Great responses guys. Here's a little trivia for you...

In Australian Army twin engined helos, the captain of the aircraft usually sits on the left and the co-pilot on the right. Why?
Because any monkey can fly a helicopter (after he/she's been trained) but actually doing all the navigating, radio calls on up to 5 radios, maintaining situational awareness of the battlespace, leading a formation, staying away from people and things that can shoot you and all the other factors involved in military flying, make a captain's job more demanding that just poling an aircraft. So the captain of the aircraft who 'administers' the mission, sits in the left... and the co-pilot, who does the bulk of the flying, sits in the seat that's been designed as the primary FLYING PILOT position, ie the Right seat. That's not why it was designed that way, (the explanation for why the pilot sits on the RHS seems totally logical to me after reading the thread), but that's the way it's evolved.

An urban myth (who knows if it's true or not) has it that some of the earlier pilots were drawn from cavalry who mount their steeds from the left, therefore they would enter their aircraft from the left and subsequently, aircraft were designed to be entered from the left. Side-by-side seating in later aircraft, carried this tradition on. Nice story.

Good luck with the flying.
CB

Eurocopter came up with a solution....EC120, Fly it from either right or left seat, then you only have to argue about where the Captain wants to sit.