NorvernRob
Distinguished Member
TIL that French and Russian Helicopter designs have their main rotor turning clockwise, whereas others rotate counter-clockwise.
This in turn results is the situation where the Yaw pedals (which control the small rotor at the rear to compensate for torque on the main rotor) have to be used differently when applying power and adjusting the pitch of the main rotors for lift. In a US/UK helicopter, when applying power and lifting you compensate by pressing the left pedal to counteract the torque, whereas on a French/Russian helicopter you have to apply the right pedal to compensate. This makes it a bit tricky for a pilot to swap between 'makes' of chopper!
On a similar vein, UK pushbikes have their brakes setup the opposite way around to the rest of Europe, with the front brake on the right.