People have been left in shock after a man revealed why passengers always board a plane on the left side.
Dougie Sharpe shared a video on TikTok where he explained why people always board and disembark on the left side of the aircraft.
Have you ever wondered why this is?
According to Dougie, the reason actually dates back centuries, and is more to do with boats and ships than to do with planes.
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Dougie explained: "The reason why we always load and unload planes from the left hand side is a holdover from when humanity moved on boats.
"Since ancient times, the left hand side of the boat was always the side people would load and unload cargo and passengers from.
"This made things simple logistically and would allow ships to travel all over the world from port to port and always have the correct equipment on the correct side no matter where they went.
"It also made building ports easier because everyone agreed the left hand side was where we loaded and unloaded things from.
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"This is why when you're on a boat they call the left hand side of the boat port side and the right hand side of the boat starboard.
"As humanity changed from boats to airplanes, engineers just held the concept over and designed every airport and airplane so that passengers always load and unload the plane from the left hand side."
Fascinating.
People were pretty intrigued after Dougie shared the info, with one person commenting on the video: "All true, May I also add, the term starboard comes from the fact they used to have a steering board on the right side of the ship."
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While another said: "So that’s why is called port side. That’s actually crazy."
And a third added: "I never could remember port and starboard, and which was which, until now thank you so much much."
Meanwhile a fourth commented: "It makes sense to build an airport like a sea port they function very similarly."
Michael Oakley, managing editor of The Aviation Historian backed up the claim.
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He told AFAR Media: “It is one of the many aviation practices that goes back beyond aviation itself to the traditions of ships.
“Much of aviation terminology had its origins in maritime lore (rudder, cockpit, cabin, bulkhead, knots, etc), and similarly, the aeronautical ways of doing things owe a lot to sailing.
"Just as boats and ships have a port side—the side of the vessel conventionally adjacent to the dock when in port—aircraft are the same. Sensibly, people decided to continue to board on the port (or left) side.”
Featured Image Credit: Getty Stock Photo/TikTok/@dougiesharpeTopics: Travel, Education, TikTok, History