We have a string going on the aircraft end of the room about why almost all aircraft are boarded from the left, and what the exceptions are. However, there is no exception for the ancient rule that the pilot in command sits in the left seat. Except in rotary wing craft, where it is switched and PIC is always on the right. Can anyone tell me why this is? Do helicopter people just want to distance themselves from fixed wing types? C’mon, we aren’t that scuzzy.
Um, are we? I mean…
Tom
The Pilot in Command is NOT always on the right in a helo.
The senior aviator sits where he wants to, the aircraft is usually piloted from the right seat, but the PIC is not necessarily in that seat.
Also, the PIC is not necessarily the senior aviator by rank.
Don
Gee… I thought the PIC sat in the back seat… [;)]
That fact seemed curious to me when I first went to helicopters in the Army (originally was fixed wing). I’m not sure I ever actually heard that answered, with any degree of officiality, but I can tell you what I think;
I think it is so the pilot can have his less busy (collective) hand near all the center-mounted knobs and switches. If seated on the left, he’d have to fly with the left hand on the cyclic, leaving the collective completely unattended, while he manipulated things on the center console, overhead console, or panel with his right hand. Should an emergency situation that required immediate action
(like an engine failure) occur while the pilot was flying with his left hand, and reaching for the radio tuner with the right, it would be an awkward scramble for controls with the proper hand, and excessive delay in getting the collective down. In some cases or some aircraft, that second or so delay could be enought to result in irrecoverable loss of rotor RPM and altitude. The cyclic demands 100% control. The collective can be frictioned to stay where it is left, so that on can take one’s hand off briefly with no adverse effect, and only a moderate increase in risk if something goes wrong at the wrong time. Note that in tandem-seat planes, pilots flew with their right hands, and other controls were positioned for actuation with the left hand, but when seats were placed side by side in an airplane, the pilot flew with his left hand. I have lots of time in both seats in a Chinook, but then, I had another pilot in the other seat to help me. But I admit to feeling a little bit vulnerable when I took up transistion students the first time. I was the only 47 qualified pilot in the cockpit, and I had the copilot’s seat. That is why before leaving the ground the first time, I carefully briefed them on where certain switches were and what would be required if certain emergencies occured, and I had two hands full of Chinook trying to save our butts, and needed them to help me out. Engine trim circuit breakers and fuel switches overhead, fire handles and bottle selector switch on the panel, and engine condition levers, emergency engine trim switches, and SAS release switch on the console must be actuated promptly and correctly by the second pilot given certain emergency situations.
If this doesn’t answer your question, I hope it at least offers a little insight.
Take care,
Frank
Frank is right. . .
In a way. With modern helos you only need your index finger to fly,(punching buttons on the computer).
Cobrahistorian is correct too, with CRM (cockpit resourse management, the government way to blame the enlisted guy) The guy in back is apt to smack a rightseater in the helmet if he goes stupid, or the left seater for that matter.
Don
Best reason I’ve heard is that right seat was chosen on early helos because the tail rotor was on the right so they put the cabin door on the right and the hoist on the right and put the PIC in the right seat so he had better SA of all three.