At 19:43 10 March 2011, Bob Whelan wrote:
On 3/10/2011 5:53 AM, Dave Stewart wrote:

Apart from the ergonomics I would think it's historical. People wore
a
sword on their left so mounted a horse from the left to prevent it
fouling. They rode on the left as it was easier to fight someone on
their
right side. When it came to cars people mounted from the left to stay
out
of the road. The chauffeur would get in from the other side hence R/H
drive
cars.

I've always guessed 'the sword (and horse/critter) thing' originated
from
there being more natural righties than lefties. (Try drawing your sword
with
your right hand from your right side; I've no doubt someone on the web
sells
swords if you don't have one handy...) On the other hand, American
Plains
Indians (so I've read) tended to mount their horses from the right
side,
but
since that history was written mostly by white guys, it may be suspect!
I'd
contend there's something sinister about all this, but few would get
the
weird
humor (ha ha)...


Which raises the question "why is America the opposite?

Henry Ford. He (sensibly, it can be argued) decided to put the driver on
the
left side of the Model T because it was 'generally the custom' over
here
with
horse-drawn carriages to pass on the right of oncoming carriages, and
(presumably) it followed that ladies typically entered carriages from the

right side. What I've read (attributions entirely forgotten) claimed
Ford
decided to continue the lady-entrance-tradition (think 'horseless
carriage,'
long dresses, dirt 'roads,' and few sidewalks outside of cities'
downtowns),
as both likely - insofar as the ladies would be concerned (many of whom
would
have to be convinced that spending money on the newfangled contraption
for

'everyman' was in the house budget) - to be cleaner (in the event of
sidewalks) and safer (in the event of passing traffic).


I also think it used to be considered unlucky to mount from the right!

Dave


Never read that one! I generally entered my Zuni (think ~6-foot-long
removeable canopy; 'AS W-12-like' landing gear) from the low side. At
camps
with ramps, right-side preferred because nothing projects above the side
rail;
at my home field, operations favor the left side, which requires getting

legs/butt over ~6" of projecting flap handle.

Bob W.


This is mainly historical, as canopies primarily hinged on the right.
Most people put GPS, etc on the right so all of the erroneous equipment is
on the right, such that in the event of a bail out you don’t have to fight
your way over all of the rubbish.
Any equipment that is removed from the cockpit is a bonus as it frees up
the exit route. I can give you an example of someone having to climb over
the GPS stick on mount to bail out in the 20 seconds before it hit the
ground, he won’t mount it there again. Flying is about good habits, so
putting all of the excess equipment in the same place is a good practice.

Panel mounts are now fitted to a lot of new gliders in Europe and are very
good, with no issues to report.