Port & Starboard versus Left and Right
Avoid imitations
Join Date: Nov 2000
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Avoid imitations
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Wandering the FIR and cyberspace often at highly unsociable times
Posts: 14,573
Received 419 Likes
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221 Posts
Clearly he was winding you up.
No sailor would ever misuse the word "abaft" to means moving in a sternwards didection. Never ever. 'Abaft' can only describe a relative position. "The helm is abaft the mainmast". The destroyer turned abaft the cruiser".
It cannot possibly be used as a direction of motion. That is described as 'astern'. A vessel - or a helo - can move astern, it can never move abaft unless it moves abaft relative to something else as the term expresses where it moved, not in what manner or direction.
No sailor would ever misuse the word "abaft" to means moving in a sternwards didection. Never ever. 'Abaft' can only describe a relative position. "The helm is abaft the mainmast". The destroyer turned abaft the cruiser".
It cannot possibly be used as a direction of motion. That is described as 'astern'. A vessel - or a helo - can move astern, it can never move abaft unless it moves abaft relative to something else as the term expresses where it moved, not in what manner or direction.
which is where the stage left / stage right used in the theatre comes from - an actor stood in the middle of the stage facing the audience , up stage and down stage is due to raked stages wheerhe the 'back' Upstage is higher that the front 'downstage' to give the audience a better view of the action
During my RAF QHI course I was teamed up with a Royal Navy pilot.
When spot turning the helicopter I’d been trained to announce “TAIL GOING LEFT”, “TAIL GOING RIGHT” or “MOVING BACK” etc as required for the benefit of crew cooperation.
My RN colleague used to instead say stuff like “TURNING TO PORT”, “TURNING TO STARB’D” and “GOING ABAFT!”
I think he just did it to confuse me, but I did get used to it and sometimes imitated him with a pirate accent.
When spot turning the helicopter I’d been trained to announce “TAIL GOING LEFT”, “TAIL GOING RIGHT” or “MOVING BACK” etc as required for the benefit of crew cooperation.
My RN colleague used to instead say stuff like “TURNING TO PORT”, “TURNING TO STARB’D” and “GOING ABAFT!”
I think he just did it to confuse me, but I did get used to it and sometimes imitated him with a pirate accent.
Jack
Avoid imitations
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Unless you fly a Bell 47.
And what about tandem seated fixed wing aircraft?
There is a potential 'gotcha' with left/right identification on engines, as in:
'Looks like we'll have to shut it down.'
'Agreed. Make sure we get the right engine.'
Referring to '1' and '2' (on a twin, as used to be the case) would remove the problem.
'Looks like we'll have to shut it down.'
'Agreed. Make sure we get the right engine.'
Referring to '1' and '2' (on a twin, as used to be the case) would remove the problem.
That's actually an interesting question. Since the early B-36s didn't have the jets, I'm guessing the prop engines were 1-6, and when the jets got added they were 7-8 on the left and 9-10 on the right.
But that's just an educated guess - does anyone know for sure?
But that's just an educated guess - does anyone know for sure?