Exit/entry from a cockpit

Thanks all for your input – which throws up another “why????”

Why is a carrier’s island always on the starboard side of the ship?

IIRC one good theory on this was the placement of the island on the starboard side was that the preffered for the wave off characterics of piston powerd aircraft favored a wave off too the left. So engine tourqe of the aircraft could have been a driving factor. Of course not all all aircraft engines spin the same way, don’t want to get into that debate. So most navies adopted a starboard placed island, and then this became the standard. This also influenced the landing pattern that would be off the left side of the ship, and the left turns the aircraft took while in pattern. The Japanese designed two fleet carriers with their islands on the port side. This was done so that several carriers steaming in close company coulnd have de-conflicted landing patterns.

Because of the pilot occupying the LHS, on the Mosquito fighter types the entry was on the right. The pilot was always captain and so was first to enter and last to leave.

The reason for the 1919 ruling can be blamed on the railways. When the first airliners started regular London to Paris flights there was intense competition to maintain a service, regardless of the weather. So the pilots pressed on whatever the conditions and navigated by the railway, which across Kent went in a lovely straight line heading towards Croydon. The fateful day came when a London bound airliner, being flown from the LHS, met a Paris bound plane driven from the RHS, and they collided because both pilots were concentrating on following the rails.

Thanks all for your input – which throws up another “why????”

Why is a carrier’s island always on the starboard side of the ship?

Correct me if I am wrong but I think that might have to do with where the captain of a conventional vessel sits when on the bridge. IIRC, and this is testing the memory they sit on the left side (port) so if you have an offset island it would be placed so the captain is in position closest to the centre line of the carrier which would place him on the port side and the island on the starboard. And equally I could be totally wrong.

Lazy 8,
Not wishing to be contrary but Helicopters traditionally have the RHS as the Commanders seat

Except in Russia for some reason.

Which is why the winch on a Mi-8 Hip is on the port side – on a western type it is on the starboard side.

Ken

Thanks all for your input – which throws up another “why????”

Why is a carrier’s island always on the starboard side of the ship?

Sorry, Evalu8ter, I should have said ‘fixed wing’. Helicopters hadn’t even been invented when ICAN decided on LHS…

Actually, that raises another question. When the decision was taken 90-odd years ago, there were some two-pilot aircraft, but where the fuselage was wide enough the general expectation was that there would be one ‘pilot’ (LHS) and another, be they navigator, radio operator or even extra passenger in the other seat. Over the years this changed, and arguably those occasions when ‘the boss’ sits on the left while the co-pilot actually operates the aircraft don’t fit with the convention either.

Cue some entertaining discussion. Or is this going to be another thread where a post from me kills it off? :rolleyes:

Lazy 8,
Not wishing to be contrary but Helicopters traditionally have the RHS as the Commanders seat…..which is probably why I’m partially deaf in my left ear….

No you are not.

(sorry, couldn’t resist)

I’m sorry are you here for the five minute argument or the full half hour?

Because that’s the side the manufacturers put the steps or ladder on 🙂

Sorry – I’m just being contrary this morning……

No you are not.

(sorry, couldn’t resist)

The Bucc makes sense as it was designed to be carrier borne, so most operations would be carried out from ship side Ie flight deck and superstructure, as opposed to the ogging side.

You’ll be asking why switches work the opposite direction to houshold ones next, ie up to turn on, where a house one tends to be down.

For single seaters, one can speculate about reasons involving mounting horses, or the side most people get into a car from, or probably a number of other options. The truth is more likely that there are only two possibilities, and once one has become ‘standard practice’ for whatever reason, later designs are likely (but as has been illustrated, not certain) to follow suit. For multi-crew aircraft, the standard was set by international convention in 1919, that the aircraft commander should sit in the left-hand seat. There were hold-outs, notably Handley Page, but after a few years everyone was doing it. Probably that has an influence on single-seater design too.

I guess the Swedes didn’t have horses……..

nor the Buccaneer community…..

or Kelly Johnson….

Sorry – I’m just being contrary this morning……

Ken

Side you mount the horse from…

Why change for these new fangled contraptions such as bicycle and flying machine.

Ross