Why doors of aeroplanes are on left hand side ?

Question

Why doors of aeroplanes are on left hand side ?

Answer 1

To my knowledge it came from horses( what side do you get on a horse    left side), back when aviation first started ,

The ONLY aircraft that I know that does not do this is the AV-8B, its on the right.

Answer 2

There are doors on both sides of the aircraft. Passenger entry and exit is handled on the left, ground personnel work on the right(baggage handlers, refuellers etc) that is the general rule.

Answer 3

Commercial airplanes doors are both on left and right side and fwd and aft, while the Fwd left door is the forward entry door while the right door is called the fwd service door.

The aft left door is called the aft entry door and the right aft door is the right aft service door.

The FWD and AFT entry door are used for passenger entry while the right service door are used for catering/galley servicing.

It is design this way that all activities meaning cargo loading, potable water servicing and toilet servicing, catering and fuel servicing are happening on the right side will not impede the passenger boarding for quick turn-around aircraft. The passenger are thus free to board on the left side. Of course when refueling, boarding can be done if allowed by the captain while ensuring that both fwd and aft doors have steps for possible passenger deplaning in case of emergency.

Answer 4

They are on both sides of the planes I fly on.

Answer 5

There are entry doors on both sides of the aircraft. The answer to your question is that they make entry on the left since the cargo doors are on the right. That way cargo can be loaded without the jet-way or other interferences slowing down the process.

Answer 6

Modern aeorplanes have doors both sides, so one you might be talking about must be a vintage( i think a dc 3 dakota) has it on the left side only(not counting any emergency exits if any).  A clue to ur question is ask why does Captain sits on the left seat? :)

This link may help you

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Piedmont-...

Answer 7

there really is a door on the other side of most modern commercial airliners, at least, mainline turbofan aircraft.  (Okay, "mainline turbofan" sounds a bit redundant, sorry bout that.)

ground crews and flight crews alike are all trained to dock the jet bridge to the port side door of the aircraft.  everybody doing it the same means less opportunity for costly and/or painful mishaps.

why the left side?  I heard it's because Charles Lindbergh was left handed.

actually, that bit about Lindbergh...I just made that up.  sorry...

If the robster is right, then it goes all the way back to the first Nordic seafaring civilizations, when boats had "steering oars" on one side of the vessel instead of rudders on the centerline.  Since most sailors were right-handed, the steering oar was on the right side.  "Starboard" comes from an ancient word meaning "the side of the boat that you steer from".  With the steering oar on the starboard side, they had to put the port side of the ship against the dock.  "Port" was called "larboard" at first ("the side of the boat other than the steering side"), but it sounded so much like "starboard", that sailors were getting confused.

okay, that bit about Nordic sailors....I have no documentary evidence, but I didn't make it up.

Answer 8

I know this question is kind of geared towards the airlines, but my plane doesn't have any doors on the left side.  Piper had a habit of putting them on the right hand side.  Beech as well, for that matter.

Answer 9

If you're asking "why do passengers enter/exit from the left side instead of the right?", then it's a historical choice.

The original commercial airliners built in any serious numbers were the pre-WW2 flying boats. They took off and landed from water as there were very few places in the world which had invested the enormous sums needed for long runways.

As flying boats, these aircraft followed established maritime practice and boarded passengers from the port side (left). Originally they loaded everything from the port side, but this rapidly changed to embarking and disembarking passengers only from the port side and bringing service pontoons up against the starboard side using the formerly unused emergency exits. As has been stated by an earlier answer, this enabled rapid turnaround as passengers and aircraft provisioning didn't trip over each other in the rush.

After the war, there were lots of new large runways which had been built for bombers and the civil airlines gradually took them over using conventional land-based aeroplanes, but the established loading and unloading procedures were already well-established internationally and were kept unchanged.

Answer 10

take a look at the right hand side one day...

Answer 11

On commercial airliners, there are emergency hatches and minor access doors on both sides of the aircraft. Belly freight doors are usually on the right, as is access to the galleys (kitchens) for catering supplies. This is so that ground handling equipment for both passengers and cargo can be used simultaneously.

For passenger entry and exit, facilities at airports like elevated ramps are designed for left side access only, so commercial airliner main doors are on the left side.

This may originate from the fact that the captain or pilot-in-command usually flies from the left hand seat, although both pilot positions have the same flight controls and instruments. However on older large aircraft, the nose-wheel steering wheel (used for taxiing) was only on the left hand side.

Answer 12

They are on both sides.

You ENTER from the left because catering (food) and cleaning crews use the right hand doors.

Answer 13

The left seat is where the captain sits. Ease of entry and egress for the captain.

Answer 14

as far as i know, they are on both sides.