Regarding Brian L's piece on why P1 sits on the left.
I believe the answer is simple: The rules of the air are taken from the rules for avoiding collision at sea, e.g. pass port (left) to port, overtake on the right, sail on the right hand side of a channel etc. Contrarily you give way to vessels coming from the left which comes from the days of sail when the boat with the wind on it’s right had priority, I don’t know why.
It therefore makes perfect sense to sit P1 (or the only pilot) on the left so he/she can see what they most frequently have to give way to when passing close.
QED
"The knack [of flying] lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss" , Douglas Adams
'Brian Lecombers article made very interesting reading,being lefthanded myself has been an advantage over the years,but since owning a couple of Jabirus,right handed stick,this has ceased to be advantageous. At some point in the past someone explained to me that the reason the Captain sits on the left is due to the first world war military regulation that the cavalry mounted their horses on the left and as a result this tradition was carried over into aviation with the pilot always approaching his aircraft from the left irrespective of the aircrafts configuration.As a result it therefore became the norm for the pilot to fly from the left seat in side by side aircraft.'
and this one by Mike Usherwood.
'In reply to Brian Lecomber's question as to why the pilot sits on the left I may have a part answer.Some 60 odd years ago I was roundly upbraided by an elderly Flight Lieutenant for starting to climb into the high tec cockpit of a Slingsby Cadet Mk 1 from the right.I was told you always get into the cockpit from the left as that was the same way as you got on a horse! When the Flight Lieutenant (Who later became a close personal friend) calmed down he told me one mounted a horse from the left in order to keep your sword arm free and when the army first started flying most of the pilots were officers and so carried on the practice of mounting from the left 'This in turn caused most circuits to become left handed as is the practice today except of course at my own club (Full Sutton) where we do all circuits to the north to avoid a large gliding club a couple of miles south of us and it avoids flying over several local villages therefore keeping the noise down though this did not suit a Dutch lady who enquired why we did right hand circuits on 22 and was told why only to remark indignantly "You put noise abatement above flight safety" '
Pete S wrote:So why in most helicopters does P1 usually sit on the right?
..
.. because (I heard many decades ago) that was they way Mr Sikorsky designed it, when no one else was designing any ones, let alone any with side-by-side seating. And the reason was that the rotor rotation direction of his first design was such that yawed turns to the right, through the primitive tail rotor shaft gearbox of those days, required less power than hovering/flying straight, leading to a rise; whereas those to the left would yield rapid sink (in each case, unless properly and promptly corrected with throttle and collective). So he (as his own test pilot) favoured turns to the right, and reflected this in his first side-by-side model.
Similarly, I long ago heard and (with Lecomber, I sense) still favour the explanation that the flywheel torque effect of WW1 rotary engines, and their usual mounting, led to turns to the left being favoured (with, not opposing, the torque); so, again, pilots preferred to sit on the left in the first side-by-side designs.
[I also heard the 'cavalry sword' explanation decades ago, but do not find it at all convincing. However, Trenchard was a cavalryman, and this is more convincingly said to be an explanation of the adoption of some cavalry terms (eg 'squadron' ) into RFC then RAF terminology, and the fact that RFC then RAF Officers privileges used to include those from cavalry but not other regiments of the army; eg having private horses moved at public expense on being posted! And yes, I knew a (WRAF) officer who had taken advantage of this as late as the '60s. This was said to be a ploy by Trenchard to ensure that cavalry officers would not lose out if they transferred to RFC/RAF, because of his belief that horsemansip was a good indicator/predictor of flying ability]
With regard to the above interesting article in this month's issue of Flyer magazine. I read, in the early 1950's, that the reason Captains sat on the left, was because of powers of observation. "Someone/somebody/whoever" had done an extensive investigation ( I can't remember when, where, or who carried out this investigation, remember, I read about it nearly 60 years ago) into the powers of observation in each eye. It became apparent that the brain takes in more information (better powers of observation) with the left eye compared to the right eye. And that's the reason why captains sit on the left. The only aircraft I have ever seen take this to heart, was the Sea Vixen fighter. If you look at the cockpit, the pilot's canopy is offset to the left, giving the pilot a clearer view to the left eye. This story may or may not be true, and I'm sure that somewhere on the internet there may be this or another explanation. I have never seen nor heard anyone ever inquire about why the captain sits on the left, in over 50 years until I read your article.
jaycee58 wrote:Most definitely not! Ships give way to vessels on their starboard side in the same way that aircraft do.
Quite right, typo- to late at night! my point however remains valid, passing port to port - sit on the left to best see, go down the right hand side of the channel (keeping the centerline / line feature on your left), sit on the left.
"The knack [of flying] lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss" , Douglas Adams
Another mystery is why, given the "mount from the left" rule, you get into all RAF fighters from the left except, for some reason, the original 'car door' version of the Hawker Typhoon.
Echo Delta wrote:Another reply, this time from B Williams
With regard to the above interesting article in this month's issue of Flyer magazine. I read, in the early 1950's, that the reason Captains sat on the left, was because of powers of observation. "Someone/somebody/whoever" had done an extensive investigation ( I can't remember when, where, or who carried out this investigation, remember, I read about it nearly 60 years ago) into the powers of observation in each eye. It became apparent that the brain takes in more information (better powers of observation) with the left eye compared to the right eye. And that's the reason why captains sit on the left.The only aircraft I have ever seen take this to heart, was the Sea Vixen fighter. If you look at the cockpit, the pilot's canopy is offset to the left, giving the pilot a clearer view to the left eye.
Beg to differ: the Pilot's cockpit in the Sea Vixen is offset to the left to make room for the observer who sits to the pilot's right, completely buried within the fuselage, access being gained by a hatch alongside the canopy......
Though just what he could observe from that position is dabateable.....
It was explained to me, when I first started, that a good reason for sitting on the left was:
Because the left hand could be free do the really easy stuff like guiding the aircraft with a steering column or flying it with the stick. This then leaves the right hand (apparently 90% of folks are right handed) free for more complicated stuff like doodling on your notepad or fiddling with your knob(s) and other very important twiddly stuff.
Jim
Blissfully crawling very slowly through a man made ditch somewhere in the UK
It's down to architecture not swords. Airfield infrastructure was originally designed to be on the south side of airfields so that ground staff didn't habitually look into the sun when looking over the field. Since the northern hemisphere prevailing winds are s'westerly the pilot sat on the left to be able to communicate with ground staff while on the 'runway'.
If aeroplanes had developed in the southern hemisphere the pilot would sit on the right.
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