Pilot position in aircraft or helicopters.

It is actually ergonomics when it comes to helicopters. It has nothing to do with torque. Helicopters turn left or right just as well. They don’t care. But you are correct with the Bell 47. It is due to the seating. Same as the MD500.

You can’t let go of the cyclic for long when flying but you can let go of the collective for a good period of time. So for frequency changes or switch operations, the left hand is normally used as that is the hand on the collective. So it makes sense that the instrument panel/radio stack is mostly to the left of the pilot. Which means the pilot is on the right.

If you’re doing longline sling work, you’ll find that the pilot will usually sit on the left if possible, as it is much easier to lean out over the collective to see the load under the helicopter, than to lean away from the collective. It stretches your left arm a bit if you lean away and makes it a bit more difficult to fly.

Helicopter pilots ALWAYS fly right hand on cyclic, left hand on collective. That is how all modern helicopters are arranged. Fixed wing is not like that. On the left seat of a Cessna/Piper, you fly left hand on the yoke, right hand on the throttle. If you’re in the right seat, you fly right hand on the yoke, left hand on the throttle.

So fixed wing are the odd ones out. There is no good reason for the captain to sit on the left.

Adding to the mix is the fact that Russian helicopters are flown from the left hand seat – as in a conventional aircraft.

If fitted, the rescue winch is fitted on the port (pilots) side – unlike western types with the winch on the stbd side…..

Ken

I understand that the right seat helicopter pilot position has to do with torque…it is easier for helicopters to turn to the right so that’s where the pilot or “captain” sits (on two-pilot machines). However, that explanation is compromised by the fact that some helicopters rotors go in the opposite direction. Likewise, tandem rotor types, which don’t produce torque because the rotors turn in opposite directions.

It could be as simple as early Sikorsky types like the S-55 and 58 has the pilot on the right so it became the standard, so when different “handed” types were built, the precedence was set.

On light types, like the Bell 47 I flew, the pilot sits on the left.
That could be a matter of ergonomics because with aircraft with a bench seat, that allows easy placement of the collective/throttle column, leaving the rest of the seat open for passengers.

I’ve read that it has something to do with the central location of the single collective lever on the earliest helicopters, ie. sitting on the right meant having the cyclic in the right and the collective in the left. No idea how true this is, I’m sure someone will be along to confirm or refute.