Small Scale Military Headquarters

Which side of the helicopter does the pilot fly from? I know they have 2 sets of controls 1 on each side but which one does the pilot occupy ?

I believe its pretty much standard that the command pilot sits in the right seat on most helicopters. This differs from airplanes, where the seat is on the left. For example, on the UH-1 Huey and the UH-60 Blackhawk, the pilot sits on the right. The reasons for this are largely historical - pilots tended to like to grip the cyclic stick with their right hand, so the pilots position evolved onto the left side of the helicopter. Obviously in a tandem seat helicopter (think the Apache or AH-1) the pilot sits in the rear seat while the systems operator sits in front.

Even on the 21c Huey model, you can see where the right seat is better set up for the operations of the pilot with the placement of the instruments.

Here is a 2011 article from Smithsonian's Air and Space magazine that addresses your question: http://www.airspacemag.com/need-to-know ... -Seat.html

Nice quick read

Tman is correct. The pilot in command sits on the right side. Helicopters have 3 sets of controls, the pedals, cyclic, and collective. All 3 controls are used at the same time to fly. The pedals are operate by the pilot's feet obviously, while the cyclic is with the pilot's right hand, and the collective with the pilot's left. In flight the collective is not adjusted as much as the other controls allowing the pilot to free his left hand to adjust the instruments or radios. This is easier if the pilot is in the right seat because his left hand is able to reach the instruments in the center more easily.

Cool Thanks man! Thats what I thought but was not sure.