My two preferred long lining platforms are the 407 and 350.

I haven't flown a 350 LH hook but I find the large floor window and the Airbus electric mirror great for long ling work.

Although in NZ we take the door off most jobs, it is a bit cramped with the door on I agree.

I understand this doesn't answer your question though....

The floor window in a 350 / 355 for a short pilot like myself 5'4" is very difficult. LH hand can barely control collective. Have to move so far forward in seat in hurts after 4 - 6 hours of drill work. Flew the RH drive for a few hundred hours and much much better.
Personally prefer LH longline for some strange reason - 206, 105 and 407.
350 /355 thru the floor gave you little situational awareness when watching drillers and riggers doing the runabouts under you.
One of our 350''s had a collective extension.... helped a lot but still caused discomfort after long days of VR.

Thanks for all the replies

A little more explanation on the height of the pilot....

Tall guys do well with the left hand drive, because they can slide the seat back. The cyclic moves aft and to the left under heavy power usage, so your hips need to stay in place (not slide toward door, trying to look out), and still reach the pedal. So a taller torso, allows your butt to stay in the seat (un restricting cyclic movement), while still being able to lean out far enough.

Nobody ever realises this, when you are sitting on the ground..."trying it out", because the cyclic is neutral when not running.

Another option is to get a hold of the seat-shift kit from Airwork NZ. Right-hand drive, no floorwindow (door off) and can be taken off one aircraft and put on another with very little time and effort. Cost about 10K NZD.

flown VR from LH and RH seat in the AS350. Liked the LH with bubble. RH with big floor window, pitch extension and bubble window after getting used to works well too. If the helicopter is used only for VR work, although I have never work with, I think the swiss rotor solutions 'Max Pilot View Kit' is the one to go. Not sure aboout the cost of that kit.

B3 DH lefty
 

Not sure if this will work... file upload failed... I can send you a pic via email as well if you like.


https://www.instagram.com/p/BXoVrv-A...ken-by=flyheli


It's a B3 DH. You can see the elbow rest which is quite nice (built by operator).
I thought that Airbus stopped producing left hand drives. At least they are not available in Canada anymore for quite some time.
The visibility is a lot better than through the small window on a right hand drive due to the much better peripheral vision you get but it's a quite uncomfortable body position. Your body position is quite twisted and backwards. Also not so comfy for shorter drivers due to the fact that you are losing right pedal contact whey you are twisting your body.

Hello flyheli,

FYI, the LH Pilot STC is available in Canada and kit production has never ceased.

Regards,

Rigidhead

I've used the Oceania Aviation of New Zealand's right seat slider kit and it is brilliant. It's a plate that bolts to the floor in place of the seat rails, that allows the seat to slide to the right. It has rails so that the seat can still move fore and aft as per normal. There is a longer right peddle and a collective extension, works on B3 as doesn't effect the throttle. Very easy to change between the normal position and the sling position and gives a Bell 206 quality view.