Why in aircraft that have a pilot and co pilot sitting next to each other is the left hand seat always that of the pilot in command?
As most people are right handed the important instruments need to be accessible to the pilot's right hand - hence he has to sit on the left.
I read somewhere that putting the pilot in the left hand seat dates back to cavalry - mounting a horse from the left - I thought that was weird but I suppose it could be feasible !! I also read that military trainers have to prepare people for single seaters which are invariably flown right hand on stick !! Annie
Just to complicate things: isn't it the case that in helicopters the senior pilot sits on the right?! I've no idea why. On very early large British multi-engined aircraft such as the Handley Page O/400 or Vickers Vimy the control wheel appears to be on the right, but I couldn't say if the same was true of similar aircraft of other nations. Certainly by the 1930s, on something like the Blenheim the pilot was definitely on the left, despite the fact that on British cars the driver is on the right.
The Captain has to sit somewhere! On the Nimrod, we swap every sortie: one day the Captain is in the left seat; the next time he is in the right. Roxy
