In a twin the thrust line is slightly to the right when climbing, just like
a single, which makes the plane yaw left, just like in a single. The left
engine in a twin is the "important" engine. If you lose an engine, you
prefer it not to be the left one. Turning into the one good engine is about
the most difficult thing to do in a twin. If you lose the left engine, it
might take all of your right rudder just to keep it going straight. You
probably don't have enough to perform a right hand turn. It is probably
easier to do a 270 degree left turn than a 90 degree right turn. I don't
think the right hand turns associated with a hold have anything to do with a
twin.


"Walter Ellison" wrote in message
link.net...
Nobody ever mentioned a twin engine aircraft, so this is my guess. In a
twin, where both engines turn in the same direction, there is a slight
asymmetry to the thrust vector, I believe, slightly to the right side of
the
airplane. If you were in a turn, at low speed, and you lost and engine,
you
would rather be turning into the engine with the power than away from it.
But since you don't know which engine is going to fail, you would rather
turn into the thrust vector than away from it. That's my theory.

"Roy Smith" wrote in message
...
It has always struck me odd that a standard landing pattern is left
turns and a standard hold is right turns. Having a left patterns for
landing makes a bit of sense, since the pilot is on the left side of the
cockpit and has a better view of the runway making left turns.

But, for IFR holds, there doesn't seem to be any advantage to one way or
the other. Why did they pick right turns to be standard?