I'm sort of confused. Why does it matter which hand they use to reach around the "flightdeck" to flip switches?

 

Ok, so the cyclic, the stick in the middle that controls roll and pitch is very sensitive, and you must have your hand on it at all times... it is worked with your right hand, since most people are right handed. The collective, however is a lever on the left side that you move up and down... it controls power and pitch of all the blades at the same time (up/down). When you are flying along at cruise, you can lock down the friction lock on the collective, since you won't be making as many power changes, so you can use that hand (left) to flip switches. Since you are sitting on the right, your left hand is in the middle of the helicopter, and therefore you can reach the switches without reaching across your body... make sense?

 

^^^ In response to that, the pilot of an airplane sits on the left with his left hand on the yoke. If the same pilot is right handed, he would be flying with his left hand and flipping switches with his right. IN conjunction, the co-pilot of a helo deals with the same thing as the pilot of a plane. So why not put the pilot on the left, have him fly with his left hand, and flip switches with his right like all regular fixed-wing bretheren?

 

lol

 

Gotcha now i was confused because for some stupid reason i was thinking that on the right seat of a helo the collective was on the right side of the seat. But, you are right it is on the left side both places which makes since know. Thanks for clearing that up!

 

Why is the collective on the left side of the seat in a helicopter, but on my riding lawn mower the deck controls are on the right?




The reason the steering on a boat is on the right, is because when traveling on a river you are suppose to be on the right side. If a boater is traveling by himself, it makes it much easier for him to grab or release from a dock. If the steering was on the left he would have to run across the boat and hope to grab the dock in time, or more likely, he would just turn around and come up to the dock going the wrong way.




You also always have to yeild to the right in a boat, putting the driver on the right side of the boat gives him better visability.