Hey, this one has just stumpted me for A LONG TIME! why is it, the cargo is always loaded on the right side of the plane, along with the Serving and all, and the pax are on hte left side? and why aren't there any cargo doors on the left side.. thanks!!! finally get some sleep over this subject :-)

So the passengers dont see what the luggage people are doing to your luggage....and so that you dont see what the food looks like before your severed it...you might lose your apatite![br][br][div align=center][br][link:members.cox.net/fstimes/wetimage.html]Click Here For Weather Image of the Day!

Back in the propliner days, some early aircraft had passenger doors on the right side (most Convair 240's, American DC-3's, etc.). However, I believe that in order to park aircraft more efficiently (before jetways, remember) it was decided by the airlines to standardize on the left side, since a majority of the aircraft already produced and in production had passenger doors on the left side (most notably the Douglas DC-4/6/7 and the Lockheed Constellation). Thus, by the early 1950's passenger doors were standardized on the left side. I would speculate that this was the preferred side as well since when a plane parked at the gate (making that sharp turn right at the gate, the "terminal turn"), this put the captain (on the left side) facing the gate and the leaving/boarding passengers.As for baggage doors, several aircraft had passenger-level doors on the left side, including the Martin 202/404 series (just behind the cockpit). These were used when a short stop was made and the #2 engine (right side) was kept running. All aircraft that I know of had underfloor doors on the right side, though. This made the most sense, since before the days of jetways there were passengers walking around on the left side, leaving and boarding the aircraft. You didn't want food and baggage trucks running over the passengers! One exception might be the Martin 202/404 series (where passengers boarded through ventral airstairs), but I'm not positive about that.Of course, on all-cargo and combi aircraft, the large floor level cargo doors are on the left side, since loading the main level would not then interfere with the loading of the underfloor compartments on the right side.Hope this helps,-- Tom GibsonCalifornia Classic Propliners: http://www.calclassic.com/Cal Classic Alco Page: http://www.calclassic.com/alco/Freeflight Design Shop: http://www.freeflightdesign.com/ San Diego Model RR Museum: http://www.sdmodelrailroadm.com/Drop by! ___x_x_(")_x_x___