At 12:53 10 March 2011, Dave Stewart wrote:
At 07:04 10 March 2011, Peter Scholz wrote:
Am 10.03.2011 04:03, bildan wrote:
On Mar 9, 5:58 pm, Randy wrote:
Hi All
A Question about Boom Mics. Why are they always
mounted on the right
side of the cockpit? Is there any reason for not being able
to mount
them on the Left side.
Thanks
Randy

I've sometimes wondered why a highly directional mike
couldn't be
mounted in the instrument panel which would be
completely out of
harm's way.

Actually there is someone in Germany offering such panel-
mounted
microphones for 49 EUR in the classified ads on
http://www.segelflug.de/cgi-bin/clas...lassifieds.cgi

Search for "Einbaumicro" or Ad no. 10339. I guess you also
could use
any
other highly directional mike from your nearest electronics
supplier....

--
Peter Scholz
ASW24 JE


Apart from the ergonomics I would think its historical. People
wore a
sword on their left so mounted a horse from the left to prevent
it
fouling. They rode on the left as it was easier to fight someone
on their
right side. When it came to cars people mounted from the left
to stay out
of the road. The chauffer would get in from the other side
hence R/H drive
cars.

Which raises the question "why is America the opposite?

I also think it used to be considered unluckey to mount from
the right!

Dave



I was under the impression that R/H drive cars were that way to
improve road visibility when driving on the left.
Chauffeured denizens would usually sit in the rear, so it would
not matter which side the driver climbed in. I digress...

Certainly I was taught to enter and egress a glider from the left
also, although no explanation was give as to why this was the
case - it was just "what you did". I learnt in K21s that have
transversely hinged canopies, but the microphone is on the right
too.

A boom mic can be placed very close to your oral portal, hence requiring a
relatively low sensitivity transducer. With regard to
the directional microphones, would these not also pick up and
sound directly between the pilot and binnacle? Although the fact
that such directional transducers can be purchased suggests that
this is not an issue.

There's only one way to find out...