The issue of clamshell canopies came up on another string and it reminded me of something I’ve wondered about from time to time. Does anyone know why we board single and two-seat aircraft, from Fokker Triplanes to F-22, from the left? Or why passenger doors on liners are on the left? On a/c with hinged side-opening canopies they open to the left (F-104 is one exception I can think of, more on that, but I’m sure there are other exceptions. Forget about light private a/c. There’s a reason why they open on the right, but it confuses the issue more. Let’s keep it military.) Does this go all the way back to the tradition of mounting horses from the left? And why does pilot in command always sit in the left hand seat? But in helicopters, PIC sits on the right? And, as usual, apropos of nothing, you know that tiny (left-opening) canopy on the Bf-109? I was allowed to sit in the CAF’s Spanish 109 once, and it was frighteningly tiny and cramped for a normal sized, 6 ft. man. But I was struck by how, as I tried to pull the old 109-style – not Erla Haub – canopy over, it turned out to weigh an absolute ton! The crew chief told me it was over 100 lbs. and he had to close it on me. As he did had to duck my head to fit in with seat all the way down. How they tolerated it AND functioned so well under such stress in the war I’ll never know. To the point, does anybody know this left-hand answer, and why the F-104 is an exception (big, manual canopy, you can pull it over you with two fingers)?
P.S. I’m left handed. Maybe no one cares and I’m wasting your time. If so, never mind.[:I]
Maybe from ships having a port and starboard sides? Always the same? Just guessing.
I believe it one of those human things, called tradition. The way we seem to fall into rythmn and before you know it someone says its always been that way so continue that way. The 104 maybe just a rebel engineer, wanted to be different, I believe alot of people entered the Hawker Hurricane and F4 Corsair from the right too.
I am sure there is a technical reason somewhere, just haven’t found it yet. Will keep looking though.
I totally forgot the Corsair. You can’t miss that cutout step on the right inboard flap. Corsair lovers, does that feature appear on all F4U variants? And Leitch may be right, this could be simply a tradition going back to the Romans, perhaps having something to do with the side on which right handed men wore their swords while mounting horses. Obviously, they’d have to step up from the left with a sword strapped on their left hip. I’m still curious about the difference between fixed wing pilots and rotary wing pilots sitting on different sides. I thought the reason we enter Piper Cherokees and similar small planes from the left had to do with the need for the pilot to board before the passengers, to pre-flight the plane and avoid crawling over the person sitting on the right side as well. Then it occured to me that Piper Cubs and O-1 Birddogs, with tandem seating, open from the right as well. But still right side is rare – all you have to do to realize it is recall how many times you’ve applied decals and stencils for a/c steps on the left side.
On the other hand, I may be giving this more thought and many more words than it deserves. But, hey, I don’t object to other people posting about computer flight sims. This is a very democratic, tolerant site and I like that about it.
The Hellcat is entered from the right too.
However, you’re right that the tradition goes back to horsemanship and the whole sword being on the left hip thing.
I have a feeling the Navy birds were regularly mounted from the right because it was a shorter walk from the carrier island to the plane’s right side.
Regards,
I just finished a 1/32 Typhoon for the D-day group build, & one of the first things that struck me as weird about this AC (among many other things) was that it had a door that opened on the right side of the which was part of both the fuselage & the canopy–a very strange arrangement. I think the Bell P-39 might
have a similar set up. Can anyone think of any other of these unusual right handed AC?
The P-39 had two doors. One on each side. They were like car doors. Pilots tended to like that plane’s ergonomics, but its performance was not very good compared with other US fighters and Japanese planes.
Regards,
It’s going back to the Shipping days of the past, Port = Left side, except for the WWII Navy planes they entered on the Starboard side because of the conning tower of the carrier was on the Starboard side of the ship and they generally gained access to the flight deck from the tower, then when the jet age took hold then the Naval planes standardized to the port entrance with the rest of the aviation industry, also the passengers planes are boarded on the L/H side too for the same reason and the plane commander is in the left seat so they dock the planes at the terminal and airstair
Its funny how an obscure tradition whose practical roots are utterly obsolete in the modern world, can have such a sweeping influence today. Imagine how many people in one day around the world walk into an airliner from the left side? And the B-47, a huge aircraft for its day, had tandem seating under a nonfuntioning canopy (it slip back about a foot for ventilation and it would jettison in emergency, but you couldn’t use it to enter the a/c). But to get inside the airplane, where you had to make a further climb up a short ladder to get to your seat, you entered a small hatch on the lower side of the aircraft. The lower left side. And for no good reason I can think of.
Crew hatch on Mosquito is on the lower right side, but that’s to give access to the single pilot seat located, naturally, on the left side! Exact same entrance side and cockpit arrangement on Brit Canberras as Mossies – single pilot with seat on the left, nav/bombardier behind and on right. American B-57A kept this arrangement, then the B went to tandem seat. Don’t know what side they put the ladders on, though.
Its funny how an obscure tradition whose practical roots are utterly obsolete in the modern world, can have such a sweeping influence today. Imagine how many people in one day around the world walk into an airliner from the left side? And the B-47, a huge aircraft for its day, had tandem seating under a nonfuntioning canopy (it slips back about a foot for ventilation and it would jettison in emergency, but you couldn’t use it to enter the a/c). But to get inside the airplane, where you had to make a further climb up a short ladder to get to your seat, you entered a small hatch on the lower side of the aircraft. The lower left side. And for no good reason I can think of.
Crew hatch on Mosquito is on the lower right side, but that’s to give access to the single pilot seat located, naturally, on the left side! Exact same entrance side and cockpit arrangement on Brit Canberras as Mossies – single pilot with seat on the left, nav/bombardier behind and on right. American B-57A kept this arrangement, then the B went to tandem seat. Don’t know what side they put the ladders on, though.
You mount a horse from the left also - they get kind of annoyed if you try to mount from the right. Maybe its a holdover from the days of cavalry.
Forgive me guys. Bad enough I’m so wordy, but I axdently sent 'er 2 times. Just found out the “delete post” function under Edit does not allow it.
Tom