Almost all aircraft are setup with the main controls on the left side.  If you notice in the Cessna, almost every gauge and switch is located to be operated from the left side.  There are exceptions, especially in helicopters which are often flown from the right side, but almost all aircraft are designed to be flown from the left seat.  Its just common practice.

it does seem a bit awkward, doesn't it, I suppose it's probably just because cars are driven from the left seat (in the US).  what seems really weird to me is that almost every stick I've owned has been ergonomically designed to be operated with the right hand.  Although now that I think about it, most single/tandem-seat planes that I've seen have a center or right hand side stick and a left hand throttle, so that's not so unusual for a stick is it?

d2hpeter wrote on Apr 4^th, 2010 at 12:15am:


It all depends, are you talking about flying in sim, or a real aircraft.  When simming, I have a flight stick, so right hand is the natural way of using it.  However when I fly the regular Piper or Cessna, then I use the left hand on the yoke and right on the thottle.  Now there are aircraft, single or tandem seat aircraft, that will have a center stick and a left hand throttle.  In my opinion, it is pretty easy to go back and forth, so I wouldn't be too worried about which hand I'm using.

Maybe there's some of that right handed - left handed thing involved.  The majority are right-handed and, when given a choice prefer things going left and even in a tandem aircraft, with the centered stick and left hand throttle left turns always 'felt' smoother than right.

olderndirt wrote on Apr 4^th, 2010 at 11:04am:

I worked for a flying club for two years at the start of my career & have been interested in training ever since. The aircraft we used were Tiger Moths, the aircraft that many thousands of RAF pilots trained on during WWII. Like most trainers of the period the Tiger Moth has tandem cockpits with conventional stick & rudder & throttle on the left. It was part of my job to show new pupils the cockpit & explain the basic controls & instruments. It never occurred to me to ask them if they were left or right-handed. They don't make right & left handed aircraft. If they wanted to learn to fly they had to learn to fly the aircraft as it was manufactured.

While I was at the club we got a brand-new Beagle-Auster Terrier with side-by-side seating & dual control. This was also fitted with conventional stick & rudder but the throttle quadrant was in the centre. Pupils learning on the Terrier would sit in the left seat & fly with their left hand on the stick, just like the popular Cessna & Piper trainers in use today. If you think about it this set-up should suit left-handers more than the tandem seat trainers.

d2hpeter wrote on Apr 4^th, 2010 at 11:03am:

I don't think most pilots would give it a second thought. On aircraft like the Spitfire they had to change hands just after take-off in order to retract the undercarriage. The standard RAF joystick was designed for use with either hand, just like the yoke on more modern trainers. I believe it's possible to get left-handed gaming joysticks if you want to try one. Some Saitek joysticks can be set up for use with either hand. http://www.darkplanets.co.uk/product_info.asp?pid=1056&ref=frg&utm_source=Froogl...

As you add to your real world flight experience, you will end up flying from the left seat, from the right seat, in aircraft with yokes, and in aircraft with sticks. What you will quickly find is that you easily learn to fly ambidextrously, to the point where you don't even notice it.

The only clear benefit I can see to flying with the left hand is that, if you are right handed, you can write without taking your hand off the yoke.