dvk@mi-cec.UUCP (Dan Klein) (03/11/84)
Okay, here's one: In the US, we sit on the left side of a car to drive. In all aircraft that I've seen (except helicopters), the pilot also sits on the left side of the aircraft. Where does the pilot sit in British made aircraft? Are there rules (i.e. FAA, etc.) to govern this, or is there no need? (i.e. do they all sit on the left?) -Dan Klein, Mellon Institute, Pittsburgh
ron@brl-vgr.ARPA (Ron Natalie <ron>) (03/14/84)
British pilots sit on the left because they don't drive on the left side of the sky. I used to get a friend of mine very upset to the point of him screaming..."We simply drive on the left side, not the wrong side."). The side of the plane the pilot sits on is set by the manufacturer. Tradition puts this on the left for side by side seating. Front and back seating typically uses the rear (but typically this is because when flying solo balance requires that the plane be flown from the rear seat). Actually most every dual control airplane is flyable from both positions. In less expensive implementations the right side typically doesn't have full instrumentation or some controls are not as conveniently located.
scw@cepu.UUCP (03/14/84)
I don't think that it really makes much difference. All multi pilot
aircraft have almost all controlls duplicated at both positions. The
Left Seat is traditionaly where the senior pilot sits, but durring *very*
long flights, with multiple (> the number of sets of controls) pilots
usually several different people will end up in the left seat durring
the flight.
--
Stephen C. Woods (VA Wadsworth Med Ctr./UCLA Dept. of Neurology)
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