why do heli pilots sit on the right and aircraft pilots sit on the left??

[Big.Chopper]

sat here with a family friend and he has just asked this question!
ansers on a postcard please!

[moyesboy]

The reason is that one of the first guys to fly a heli well enough to teach others sat on the left, just like fixed wing.
Then when he set up his school, he tried sitting in the other side and found controlling it difficult, so he continued to sit on the left and all his students sat on the right (the heli had one collective lever with twist grip throttle between the seats). So most of the pilots in the USA, where most of the heli were made, flew sitting on the right.
IT just stuck after that.
Then helis modified for teaching got another collective lever and throttle twist grip on the left side of the left seat for the instructor.

[RaptorStudent]

Fleet air arm pilots flying Sea kings fly on the left with observer on the right

[MrKev]

I'd heard a different idea.

An aeroplane pilot needs to refer to charts and operate the radio, and so sits on the left so that his right hand (the dominant hand for most people) is available for such tasks.

A helicopter pilot requires more dexterity to fly the machine, and so has his right hand on the main control (the cyclic), and doesn't faff around writing stuff till he's landed.

Can't vouch for and real authenticity as to if this is a real hostoric reason, but it's what I've heard.

[nightstalker]

Info i found on this:

Many aircraft (both fixed-wing and rotary wing) have the pilot position (L or R) specified in the flight manual, so therefore it is a legal requirement that the pilot occupy the correct position.

The reason fixed-wing pilots (at least the Captain or PIC) sit on the left side has to do with original 2-seat single-engine prop-driven planes, and Newton's third law which states that for every action there is an opposite and equal reaction.

In most original aircraft engine designs, the aircraft propellor rotated to counterclockwise when viewed from the pilot's seat. Mr. Newton says that when you apply power, the aircraft will rotate along its longitudinal axis clockwise, or to the right. Therefore, if the pilot occupies the left seat when s/he is flying by him/herself, then that slight change in the lateral Center of Gravity will help compensate for the prop torque. Manufacturers incorporated this tendency into the early designs to help compensate for this torque effect. So the left seat PIC position has been standard practice since the 1930's, even though more modern single-engine props turn clockwise.

It has nothing to do with left-handed vs right-handed pilots. Actually, the majority of people are right-handed (and therefore most pilots are right handed) and this means flying the aircraft with your left hand (on a conventional yoke system) and using your dominant hand for the throttle and other controls and instruments. Being L handed or R handed makes no difference on the capability of the pilot to control an aircraft.

On multi-engine planes and all large jets, there is no measurable torque effect, and both pilot positions have equal controls, instrumentation and visibility. It is just a custom that the PIC sits on the left. There is certainly no advantage in flying one side or the other.

[bjd]

I thought it was because the door was nearest on that side!!