Captain: Helicopter vs Airplane seat position (left vs right)?

I agree with Mindworm regarding:

Helicopter pilots likely appreciating nav/comm at their left.

Additional reasons for right cockpit seating of captain:

Having the engine power levers, fuel control levers, and emergency fire extinguishing T handles to the left could be advantageous.

In the case of an S76C+ where an engine computer has failed, that same left hand could be used to control the engine with the failed computer via the engine power control lever back up cable. (a C++ has a back up engine "beep" switch on the collective)

In the unlikely case of an engine fire the T handle(s) could be actuated with the left hand isolating the effected engine(s).

In the case where an auto flight system failure is experienced the collective trim can be used while making nav/com selections as well as performing other duties (above) with the right hand covering the cyclic for directional control.

I am not sure what aircraft has sliding doors where there is not enough room for radios and control panels that Mindworm mentioned.

Also regarding loss of tail rotor comment:

Loss of tail rotor CONTROL should always be a considered as well. Said loss may result from cable failure, loss of second stage hyd. sys. pump, fluid, or press.

In such a case the S76 mentioned by Islander the tail rotor's self centering cam would automatically drive the TR to -2 deg pitch which would allow for normal fwd flight with airspeed > 65 kts. A running landing would then be necessary.

Hope this helped, have a nice day :)

don't forget russian helicopters having the setup opposite.

Though i believe the reason for placing the captain to the right is due to hands disposition -

while the airplane (read airLINE - the sport airplanes do often have two throtle lever for a single pilot) pilots usually steer with their left hand and right is reserved for controlling the throttle levers, helicopter pilots steer using RIGHT hand and left is reserved for collective control INEVITABLY (there is not one single helicopter with collective control placed right of the seat.).

Because of this, the helicopter pilots are more likely to appreciate having most of the nav/comm at their left. if in the left there are sliding doors, there is not enough room for radios and control panels

Charlie got it wrong. you can NEVER ever see the tail rotor from whichever pilot seat. it's flight engineer's duty to check out the tail rotor area.

Mike if you lost power, the helicopter is not rotating anyhow, it just loses RPM of main rotor and drops. th nose only jumps some 10 to 30 degrees to either side.

Apart from that, IF tail rotor shaft gets torn, the most useful thing to do is to shut down the engines (=stop rotation) and autorotate, because you don't need the tail rotor anymore, then.

/including the famous blackhawk down scene. if the helicopter turns 60 degrees per second it is no longer a controlled crash, it's jsut an illusion of one. Thus, when tail rotor is lost, shut down the engines and autorotate/

re: sessy> could not agree more, most mature helicopters would setup certain tail rotor pitch whenever control /not power transmission/ to the tail rotor is lost, which usually provides certain ammount of power to counter the torque at typical flight regime. still, there is nno need of having a clear view onto the crashsite, since the helicopter is normally flying or skiding forwards and is capable of controlled forward flight and airplane langding.

To fly a helicopter you need to use your left hand to control the "collective" pitch while your right hand controls the "cyclic" pitch. You need to maintain cyclic pitch control at all times to keep the helicopter stable. The collective pitch control needs to be monitored. The pilot sits in the right seat so that he can use his left hand to tune the nav and com radios and or adjust flight Instruments such as the altimeter or what ever during flight all while maintaining positive control of the cyclic control in flight. I have flown both a Bell 47 where the pilot sits on the left side and a Bell Jet Ranger where the pilot sits on the right side and it is much easier flying a helicopter single pilot sitting on the right hand side.

Actually you got it half right. The Pilot of the helicopter does sit in the right seat if it is a single pilot, because most of the instrumentation and the key and starter mechanisms are on the right. Now for a 2 pilot set up such as military helicopters, the pilot is on the right and the pilot in command sits on the left and he (the PIC) takes command of the aircraft in an emergency situation because he can see the tail rotor on left side of helicopter. The stacked seating of cobra and appache are front (gunner) and back (pilot).

Because if the helicopter lost power and had to go into auto-rotate, the body of the chopper would spin clockwise. If the pilot is in the right seat he can see where he is going to do a controlled crash!!!