Classic British Flight Sim

The Bristol Freighter was pilot and assistant more than fully dual control as a lot of the equipment was LH side only even the cockpit glazing was asymmetric

Garry, when I went to Newark Air Museum to photograph the Heron what surprised me was that most of the switches including the Magnetos were all on the right hand side so the co-pilot would have operated them, a bit of a strange setup to me as I would have thought it would have been more appropriate for them to be situated where both pilots could have easy access.

I have always wanted to know this concerning right hand seat use in RAF rescue helicopters, when on a mission surely the only way to achieve a safe and succesfull rescue would be for the pilot in the RH seat to fly the aircraft as he would then be able to assess distance from any obstructions i.e. cliffs better than the pilot sitting in the LH seat (as the winch is located on the right so, if Prince William was to actually fly a mission then it would be logical that he would fly RH seat regardless of who is the captain of the helicopter. (The winch operator would provide further guidance as to positioning but at the end of the day it would ultimately be the pilots responsibility)

Any ideas on this?

Regards
Nigel.

would be for the pilot in the RH seat to fly the aircraft as he would then be able to assess distance from any obstructions

Not sure how the SAR crews work it but doing HDS to the back of a ship the pilot can't assess the distance to/from any obstructions anyway as he'll be looking for something to use as a reference to hover on while the Observer or Aircrewman guides him to the right spot and checks clearance for the rotor disc etc. Also at this stage in his flying career William should be able to pull off hovering so there's no problem with the aircraft commander sitting in the LHS to supervise the new guy.
Actually while I think about it, when I did the winching 'phase' (all four flights!) on 705 at Shawbury the winch was actually on the LHS and the student sat on the right even when the instructor got out for a leg stretch and left us on our own with the aircrewman, so it can't be that hard doing it from the wrong seat!

that was the hardest rotary wing course in all three services.

Not biting