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Left seat or right, big deck or small boy, FLIR up..or down?

MattWSU said:
Is there a reason Clint is in the right seat? I thought it was SOP for the PIC to sit in the left seat. Is it different in Helos?
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Yes, it is different in Helos. Right seat = Pilot's seat. FWIW, though, the PIC (HAC) can sit in whichever seat he wants.
 
In the H-3 it did not matter which seat you where in. Only the right seat while in the rag except for 3 flights and after that you just try to alternate. We landed cross cockpit all the time. Didn't matter on the type of boat.
 
What about taking the 60's back to P-cola for DLQ's on the allmighty Baylander. Now that, that's tough..... :icon_tong
 
On the flir topic the Romeo has an HCU for both pilots and the AW.

Edit: and they did re-instate the ability to fly the Romeo with a HAC and qualified observer, which had briefly been cut in an early version of the NATOPS.

When it comes to seats, the rotor brake is a pain to get to from the left seat (and you can't see the pressure gauge) but otherwise either seat can access everything except the c/b's on the other guy's side.
 
MasterBates said:
They put R2D2 on upside down!

Seriously, is there a reason it's on the same spot as a B/H but upside down?
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2 Reasons, 1st is the near 360 FOV the second is that the FLIR, (even the legacy systems) was designed to be mounted upside down. Ever notice the little hole at the top of the ball on legacy FLIR? That is the drain hole for any water that might accumulate in the system. Of course the upside down mount causes some clearance issues when doing dirt landings, not to mention the recent mishap where it came off on a hard landing.
 
There is a very real and important reason why the pilot in charge sits on the right seat in a helo. Physics/ gyroscopics are the correct answer. Why? Because most helicopters in the U.S have main rotor heads which rotate counter clockwise and a tail rotor which rotates clockwise in order to counter act the torque of the main rotor head. If and when a helicopter suffers a loss of tail rotor via a failed disconnect coupling the tail rotor will stop counteracting the torque from the main rotor and then the helo’s airframe will begin to spin the opposite direction of the main rotors. Which means the nose of the A/C will spin to the right. When this happens it puts the pilot in charge at a huge advantage because he can correct for objects he is spinning towards instead of being in the left seat and not being able to see what he/she is about to hit until it is to late.

I hope this helps:
AM1 (AW) Shaw
OCS class 10 May 2009 (PILOT)
Degree: Masters in Aeronautical Science
Embry-Riddle
 
MasterBates said:
SH-60B%20Sea%20Hawk2.jpg
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Tell me that's not your teeny weeny paw on the stick,MB?
 
The reason I know of is lateral control.

US helos have a CCW rotating head, which requires the T/R to pull to the right to balance it which requires left cyclic to counter.

Early, really light helos (think R22 and smaller for modern reference) often flew single pilot and or W&B (lateral) reasons the pilot had to sit on the right if by himself.

Helps counter the "left skid low" tendency most helos have.
 
No, pic I pulled off the interweb.

See where the bottom of the dash slopes down to meet the center console? I still don't grow hair on the part of my shin that rubbed there.
 
shaw5fe said:
There is a very real and important reason why the pilot in charge sits on the right seat in a helo. Physics/ gyroscopics are the correct answer. Why? Because most helicopters in the U.S have main rotor heads which rotate counter clockwise and a tail rotor which rotates clockwise in order to counter act the torque of the main rotor head. If and when a helicopter suffers a loss of tail rotor via a failed disconnect coupling the tail rotor will stop counteracting the torque from the main rotor and then the helo’s airframe will begin to spin the opposite direction of the main rotors. Which means the nose of the A/C will spin to the right. When this happens it puts the pilot in charge at a huge advantage because he can correct for objects he is spinning towards instead of being in the left seat and not being able to see what he/she is about to hit until it is to late.

I hope this helps:
AM1 (AW) Shaw
OCS class 10 May 2009 (PILOT)
Degree: Masters in Aeronautical Science
Embry-Riddle
Click to expand...


I really don't think the potential rotation has any bearing what-so-ever as 1) a loss ot tail rotor drive is normally a "YF" emergency without proper celestial positioning, and 2) it is less likely to be a "YF" emergency if you properly execute the emergency procedure which doesn't have a step for "looking out the window at what you're going to crash into."

Simply put, uncontrollable right yaw is just that - uncontrollable. The idea is to control yaw by controlling (in most cases removing) torque from the main rotor which gives you a different shit-sandwich of which left/right seat has no bearing on whether or not there is a positive outcome.

For what its worth, I fly from whatever seat I makes the most sense for what my training objectives are (initial aerial refueling, initial CQ's, initial NVG X's, etc.)

I think MB has it right with weight and balance and whomever mentioned Igor's original design.
 
shaw5fe said:
There is a very real and important reason why the pilot in charge sits on the right seat in a helo. Physics/ gyroscopics are the correct answer. Why? Because most helicopters in the U.S have main rotor heads which rotate counter clockwise and a tail rotor which rotates clockwise in order to counter act the torque of the main rotor head. If and when a helicopter suffers a loss of tail rotor via a failed disconnect coupling the tail rotor will stop counteracting the torque from the main rotor and then the helo’s airframe will begin to spin the opposite direction of the main rotors. Which means the nose of the A/C will spin to the right. When this happens it puts the pilot in charge at a huge advantage because he can correct for objects he is spinning towards instead of being in the left seat and not being able to see what he/she is about to hit until it is to late.

I hope this helps:
AM1 (AW) Shaw
OCS class 10 May 2009 (PILOT)
Degree: Masters in Aeronautical Science
Embry-Riddle
Click to expand...

I concur with Teabag's answer. Loss of T/R drive has nothing to do with the seating position. But thanks for the physics lesson.
 
teabag53 said:
I really don't think the potential rotation has any bearing what-so-ever as 1) a loss ot tail rotor drive is normally a "YF" emergency without proper celestial positioning, and 2) it is less likely to be a "YF" emergency if you properly execute the emergency procedure which doesn't have a step for "looking out the window at what you're going to crash into."

Simply put, uncontrollable right yaw is just that - uncontrollable. The idea is to control yaw by controlling (in most cases removing) torque from the main rotor which gives you a different shit-sandwich of which left/right seat has no bearing on whether or not there is a positive outcome.

For what its worth, I fly from whatever seat I makes the most sense for what my training objectives are (initial aerial refueling, initial CQ's, initial NVG X's, etc.)

I think MB has it right with weight and balance and whomever mentioned Igor's original design.
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Yeah, it's not a bad side benefit, but I don't think it's the reason why. I bet French and Russian helos also have right seat HACs, and their rotors spin the other way.
 
So, does the pilot sit on the right because the rear door is on the right or is the door on the right because the pilot sits on the right?
 
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