Why is the door on the right?

FlySince9

FlySince9

En-Route
Joined
Mar 7, 2011
Messages
3,151
Location
Huntersville, NC
Display Name
Display name:
Jerry
Okay, I'm relatively new here, so you folks may have already talked about this before. So excuse me if that is the case.

As long as I've been around airplanes I should know the answer to this (that is...if there is an answer)

On low-wing airplanes with only one door, why is the door on the right? It seems to me it would be better for it to be on the left so you can get your passengers situated before you climb in. As it is now, the pilot has to climb in and then rely on the passenger to close and secure the door.

I have limited time in low wing airplanes, so I may be off base here and missing something obvious...

I thought it might have its roots in the tandem seating arrangement where the throttle is on the left side, making a door unlikely.:dunno:
 
so the structure is strongest around the pilot.
 
he/she is guaranteed to always be in the plane but passengers are optional
 
They are not "always" on the right. Grummans, have a sliding canopy, that allows easy access for both sides, and also offers cooling when taxiing, sitting, in the summer.

:wink2:
 
Here's 2 WAGs:

1-It has to do with Naval tradition where port side was for boarding and disembarking. Aviation decided to do it on starboard side.

2-In a bail-out situation, the captain is left behind to do as much as possible to try for a good outcome before giving the order, saving the passengers first then himself.
 
Yep, doors are for barns. Real airplanes have canopies.

There are a few low wings with doors on the left. Rangemasters are one.
 
Cessna 206 is on the left, that is unless you count that huge door in the back which is on the right.
 
flyingron said:
Yep, doors are for barns. Real airplanes have canopies.

There are a few low wings with doors on the left. Rangemasters are one.
Click to expand...
And some with doors on both sides like the Beech Sundowner/Sierra, Columbia/Corvalis and Cirrus.
 
IQ Test to see which pilots are dumb enough to fly them.
 
Jaybird180 said:
1-It has to do with Naval tradition where port side was for boarding and disembarking. Aviation decided to do it on starboard side.
Click to expand...

I know of no 'tradition' to embark/disembark on the port side....we have always used whatever side is best based on wind/seas. Generally, the only reason the port side is preferred when wind/seas are not a factor is due to the fact that it is easier to bring a single screw launch along port side to - you can take better advantage of the handling characteristics of a right hand screw when docking on the port side.
 
I know about all the options: Left, Canopy, Two doors, etc. I was wondering specifically about the "RIGHT-ONLY" configuration

Jaybird's reason appears to be more of an exit strategy than that of an entrance

Jaybird180 said:
Here's 2 WAGs:

2-In a bail-out situation, the captain is left behind to do as much as possible to try for a good outcome before giving the order, saving the passengers first then himself.
Click to expand...
 
I suspect the most likely reason is that back in the day when most of these single door low wing airplanes were being made, the designers were looking for what Tony mentioned - greatest cabin integrity so only one door. They put it on the right since pilots were less safety conscious back then and were more likely to embark/disembark a passenger with the engine still running so the pilot could remain in the airplane while the pax could come and go.

Just my suspicion.
 
flyingron said:
Yep, doors are for barns. Real airplanes have canopies.
Click to expand...
Snort. Real airplanes have *neither*. :)

A single door configuration is lighter, because not only do you lose the weight of the door and all its mechanisms, you eliminate the structure impacts of putting a great big hole in the fuselage.

Why right instead of left? Because it give you better flexibility to lay out the equipment around the pilot. It gets you a whole wall where you can put stuff like fuel valves, throttles, circuit breakers, switches, etc. If you put the door on the left side only, the passenger side is not a convenient location for these. You have to put them on the panel or on the floor instead of on the cockpit wall, and if you're doing that, you might as well bite the bullet and add a door on the right as well.


Ron Wanttaja
 
wanttaja said:
Why right instead of left? Because it give you better flexibility to lay out the equipment around the pilot. It gets you a whole wall where you can put stuff like fuel valves, throttles, circuit breakers, switches, etc. If you put the door on the left side only, the passenger side is not a convenient location for these. You have to put them on the panel or on the floor instead of on the cockpit wall, and if you're doing that, you might as well bite the bullet and add a door on the right as well.
Click to expand...
The (high wing) Citabria has the single door on the right because the throttle is on the left wall. But since it's tandem and the pilot sits equally close to both sides, it doesn't matter which side the door is on.
 
My best guess is that the tradition goes back to tandem-seat airplanes like the Cub. Engine controls were on the left sidewall, which was more-or-less a holdover from open cockpit airplanes, so the Cub's single door which provided access (sort of) to both seats was on the right.

The only postwar, low-wing, single-engine airplane I can think of with a single over-wing door on the left side is the Navion Rangemaster.

Navion_door.jpg
 
Maybe 'cause many U.S. planes had engines that could be propped from behind, which is much easier to do from the right on a prop coming down on that side. Made access to the door and the controls easier after/during starting. I'm personally not a fan of the behind the prop start, but that's a different thread...h
 
wanttaja said:
Why right instead of left? Because it give you better flexibility to lay out the equipment around the pilot.
Click to expand...
That's a convincing argument. All the planes that I know that have left side only doors have them behind the pilot's seat.
 
Found this answer to the same question on another Site...

"Who knows... they put the wings on wrong as well."
 
Seems to me, If I got to design an airplane, I should be able to put the door wherever I want to put the darn thing. I doubt if door placement is little more than what the designer wanted.

It could also have something to do with weight and balance issues. The area where the door is located, with all it's hardware and such, would weigh more than an area that has just a skin, so they put the extra weight opposite the pilot.

John
 
John Baker said:
Seems to me, If I got to design an airplane, I should be able to put the door wherever I want to put the darn thing. I doubt if door placement is little more than what the designer wanted.
Click to expand...
I think you over-emphasize the control designers have on the process. None of them own the companies; they are constrained by what the cost and marketing people want. If the marketing people say, "It'll sell a lot better with doors on either side," the cost department weighs in on whether the second door will bring in more sales than the increase in prodution costs. Management then decides. The designer has a choice of implementing the decision, or finding a job in another company.

Ron Wanttaja
 
Some early Fords had the door lock key only on the right side.

Legand has it that Henry Ford insisted on it so guys would act like a gentleman and open the door for their wives.
 
My dad had a lifelong problem with claustrophobia, such that it prevented him from flying left-seat in most low-wing airplanes (he was a pilot for 40 years and owned a C-172). He was extremely uncomfortable if there was no door next to him -- not that he would ever use it in flight, there just had to be one there.
 
Fearless Tower said:
Typical Henry Ford thinking....how in the hell are they supposed to help them out of the vehicle?
Click to expand...

You can open and close the driver side door - you just have to walk around to the right to lock / unlock with the key.

And yes, Henry Ford was a world class fruitcake.
 
Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe said:
You can open and close the driver side door - you just have to walk around to the right to lock / unlock with the key.

And yes, Henry Ford was a world class fruitcake.
Click to expand...

The average among us can be nuts or fruitcakes, the wealthy or famous can only be considered as being somewhat eccentric.

John
 
Fearless Tower said:
I know of no 'tradition' to embark/disembark on the port side....we have always used whatever side is best based on wind/seas. Generally, the only reason the port side is preferred when wind/seas are not a factor is due to the fact that it is easier to bring a single screw launch along port side to - you can take better advantage of the handling characteristics of a right hand screw when docking on the port side.
Click to expand...

Tradition can go way back. The word "Starboard" is derived from an old word for rudder (Steuerbord meaning steering board). Because the rudder was attached to the steuerbord (Starboard) side instead of on the stern, that interfered with putting that side against the pier in port so the other side was the Port side and put alongside the pier.
 
FlySince9 said:
I know about all the options: Left, Canopy, Two doors, etc. I was wondering specifically about the "RIGHT-ONLY" configuration
Click to expand...


We don't care. We're going to tell you what we want to anyway.





:D
 
wanttaja said:
Snort. Real airplanes have *neither*. :)

A single door configuration is lighter, because not only do you lose the weight of the door and all its mechanisms, you eliminate the structure impacts of putting a great big hole in the fuselage.

Why right instead of left? Because it give you better flexibility to lay out the equipment around the pilot. It gets you a whole wall where you can put stuff like fuel valves, throttles, circuit breakers, switches, etc. If you put the door on the left side only, the passenger side is not a convenient location for these. You have to put them on the panel or on the floor instead of on the cockpit wall, and if you're doing that, you might as well bite the bullet and add a door on the right as well.


Ron Wanttaja
Click to expand...

That is my guess too.
 
Graueradler said:
Tradition can go way back. The word "Starboard" is derived from an old word for rudder (Steuerbord meaning steering board). Because the rudder was attached to the steuerbord (Starboard) side instead of on the stern, that interfered with putting that side against the pier in port so the other side was the Port side and put alongside the pier.
Click to expand...

Actually, the other side (opposite of startboard) was called larboard. The term port came into use later.

But that isn't a tradition - just like the bringing a single screw launch or motor whale boat alongside, the preference is to port for control reasons.

But... wind and seas will always trump any other preference.
 
Pilawt said:
My best guess is that the tradition goes back to tandem-seat airplanes like the Cub. Engine controls were on the left sidewall, which was more-or-less a holdover from open cockpit airplanes, so the Cub's single door which provided access (sort of) to both seats was on the right.
Click to expand...

Howard Wilson said:
Maybe 'cause many U.S. planes had engines that could be propped from behind, which is much easier to do from the right on a prop coming down on that side. Made access to the door and the controls easier after/during starting.
Click to expand...

Probably the best speculated reasons I've seen so far.
 
I just figured it was more convenient to put the door on the same side as the wing-walk.
 
HA!! Glad somebody posted this as I had the same question. When I was considering either the piper or the cessna for training, I ultimately chose the Cessna for this problem exactly. The risk management side of me couldn't get over the fact that 1) the security of the door was up to what a passenger might or might not do, and 2) in the instance of "something" happening, there was less capability of exit. Guess that's just my paranoia talking, but hey, can't fly and have fun if the mind is not at ease. :)
 
I admit, as much as I appreciate having my new-to-me 28-161, the getting in and out is a PITA. Im always kicking the controls and contorting myself into the left seat. I would have rather gotten a 172 but I got more airplane for the money by going piper. Getting into the old C150 that came before it was much easier, and that thing was a casket.

It's a great little traveler, for what Im using it, but if I ever can afford a step up, I'm going back to Cessna. 182 looks like the ticket. lol I've had the airplane for a month and Im already day dreamin' about an upgrade. Such goes this disease.....

P.S. Other than the fuel selector, there is jack placed on my left sidewall, a second door would be welcome lol. Take the fuel selector with you too while we're at it. Dang it. Cessna 2 Piper 0....well fueling the thing is easier. Cessna 2, Piper 1. :D
 
Fearless Tower said:
I know of no 'tradition' to embark/disembark on the port side....we have always used whatever side is best based on wind/seas. Generally, the only reason the port side is preferred when wind/seas are not a factor is due to the fact that it is easier to bring a single screw launch along port side to - you can take better advantage of the handling characteristics of a right hand screw when docking on the port side.
Click to expand...


Not quite. Before the Europeans got to China and saw centerline rudders, the 'steering board' was on the right, so to protect that they docked up left side to and they'd put out the 'larder board', the gangway, from that side. From that the names of the sides became 'steerboard' and 'larboard' which became 'starboard and port'.
 
The door is on the right side to allow passengers to board the plane after hand proping it. On the early days of GA some planes needed to be hand proped. The pilot would be at the controls on the left side while the right passenger doing the proping would go back without having the pilot to move out.

José
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top