Things you always wanted to know the answer to [Vol. 5]

Things you always wanted to know the answer to [Vol. 5]

Author
Discussion

paua

5,919 posts

145 months

Friday 15th March
quotequote all
Port & Starboard don't change, they're constants. If you're sitting facing forward to the front of the vessel ( plane, boat or train is irrelevant), your left shoulder is on the port side of the vessel, if you're walking from the front (bow) towards the tail (stern), your left shoulder is on the starboard side. This is the very reason for the terminology: to avoid confusion.


TLDR, if you're facing forward, your left arm is on the port side, if you are facing the back ( of the plane, ship etc) , your left arm is on the starboard side.

Alickadoo

1,849 posts

25 months

Friday 15th March
quotequote all
[quote=eldar]I always seem to board a plane on the right, starboard, if you approach the plane, as usual, from the front.

Becomes port, once seated. [/quote

No, it doesn't.

Port and starboard are not interchangeable depending upon which way you are facing.

Clockwork Cupcake

75,191 posts

274 months

Friday 15th March
quotequote all
paua said:
[pretty much exactly what CC already posted]
And now that a man has repeated what I already said, we can take that as an official answer. wink

captain_cynic

12,493 posts

97 months

Friday 15th March
quotequote all
eldar said:
I always seem to board a plane on the right, starboard, if you approach the plane, as usual, from the front.

Becomes port, once seated.
This. I believe it's a throwback to the old sailing days where you dock to the left (port).

It's just become tradition. Realistically you can board or alight from either side but everything is set up for port. Also this separates passenger traffic from service traffic, so people servicing the aircraft can continue to do so from the right hand side of the aircraft without worrying about stray holidaymakers.

paua

5,919 posts

145 months

Friday 15th March
quotequote all
said:
That you're faster/ better at typing doesn't justify your sarcasm. We're all agreed on the point in question.

FiF

44,441 posts

253 months

Friday 15th March
quotequote all
Clockwork Cupcake said:
FiF said:
So it's simply a means to achieve an extra layer of security, which seems fair enough.

I know it's a right palaver trying to return something she's bought. :grump:
It very rarely causes an issue other than, for example, you pay for something with the card in the phone and then try to get a refund using the physical card. You may think they are the same card but they actually have different card numbers.

It would be the same situation where you have an additional cardholder on an account, and the main cardholder bought something with their card and then the additional cardholder tried to get a refund using their card. The card numbers would not match, even though they were linked to the same account.

Edit: Or you buy something online and then have to show the card you used to make the purchase (eg. collecting tickets or whatever). Again, if you bought using the number on the physical card and then tried to use your phone's one when you collect.

It depends on how clever the system is and whether it can ask the issuer if they are the same card. Some are dumb and just expect the card number to match.


Edited by Clockwork Cupcake on Friday 15th March 09:18
Ok understand what's going on, can definitely recall a tricky moment when a train ticket had been bought in advance using the phone or card but the revenue enforcement bullies had some issues matching things up.

Rebew

157 posts

94 months

Friday 15th March
quotequote all
Clockwork Cupcake said:
FiF said:
So it's simply a means to achieve an extra layer of security, which seems fair enough.

I know it's a right palaver trying to return something she's bought. :grump:
It very rarely causes an issue other than, for example, you pay for something with the card in the phone and then try to get a refund using the physical card. You may think they are the same card but they actually have different card numbers.

It would be the same situation where you have an additional cardholder on an account, and the main cardholder bought something with their card and then the additional cardholder tried to get a refund using their card. The card numbers would not match, even though they were linked to the same account.

Edit: Or you buy something online and then have to show the card you used to make the purchase (eg. collecting tickets or whatever). Again, if you bought using the number on the physical card and then tried to use your phone's one when you collect.

It depends on how clever the system is and whether it can ask the issuer if they are the same card. Some are dumb and just expect the card number to match.


Edited by Clockwork Cupcake on Friday 15th March 09:18
My partner tapped in on the tube using her phone and tapped out using her card assuming that it would be the same thing. Resulted in two maximum fare charges which were eventually refunded when we realised what had happened.

Clockwork Cupcake

75,191 posts

274 months

Friday 15th March
quotequote all
paua said:
That you're faster/ better at typing doesn't justify your sarcasm. We're all agreed on the point in question.
It wasn't sarcasm, it was just wry humour. Also, the situation of "it's not true until a man says it" happens depressingly often I'm afraid. I was just making humorous reference to that fact, and I wasn't having a go at you personally.


Strangely Brown

10,231 posts

233 months

Friday 15th March
quotequote all
Frimley111R said:
Strangely Brown said:
audi321 said:
Much more secure than your bank card. Need to authenticate first.

Hence the payment limit is much higher (in fact I don’t even think there is a limit).
Ding! And that's the difference that means I use ApplePay for just about every transaction (other than those that are cash) and have swapped the cards for non-contactless ones. They are still chip-n-pin but no contactless. I do like the idea of unauthenticated transactions.

Yes, AFAIK, there is no limit on ApplePay (don't know about GooglePay) and I used it to purchase the memsahib's car last year.
Interesting, I didn't know there were non-contactless bank cards.
They are not advertised by the banks so you have to know they exist and you have to ask for them specifically. Once you reach someone who knows how to do it the process is pretty straightforward.

bodhi

10,826 posts

231 months

Friday 15th March
quotequote all
Strangely Brown said:
Blib said:
I've finally entered the financial 21st century and added a debit card to my phone's 'wallet'.

It works a treat.

However, do I have to carry the actual card with me also?

Every so often one has to put the card in the machine and type in the pin.

Does the wallet system bypass that?

Thanks. smile
Yes, but sometimes it can be a bugger to get the phone into the card slot.
Funnily enough with mine it has beeped a couple of times and asked me to "Insert Card", which seemed challenging.

Clockwork Cupcake

75,191 posts

274 months

Friday 15th March
quotequote all
Rebew said:
My partner tapped in on the tube using her phone and tapped out using her card assuming that it would be the same thing. Resulted in two maximum fare charges which were eventually refunded when we realised what had happened.
Clearly that system is going solely on card number then, which is reasonable due to the high volume. Glad they refunded you though.


RizzoTheRat

25,407 posts

194 months

Friday 15th March
quotequote all
bodhi said:
Strangely Brown said:
Yes, but sometimes it can be a bugger to get the phone into the card slot.
Funnily enough with mine it has beeped a couple of times and asked me to "Insert Card", which seemed challenging.
I went to the Bomber Command Centre in Lincoln the other week, and thier machine wouldn't accept either my sisters or my phone payment, and we had to use a card instead. First time I've had that happen in several years of using Google and Garmin pay.

98elise

27,010 posts

163 months

Friday 15th March
quotequote all
eldar said:
I always seem to board a plane on the right, starboard, if you approach the plane, as usual, from the front.

Becomes port, once seated.
Port and starboard are not relative, unlike left and right. That's why ships use port and starboard.

RizzoTheRat

25,407 posts

194 months

Friday 15th March
quotequote all
Clockwork Cupcake said:
It wasn't sarcasm, it was just wry humour. Also, the situation of "it's not true until a man says it" happens depressingly often I'm afraid. I was just making humorous reference to that fact, and I wasn't having a go at you personally.
Did you just assume Paua's gender? eek

paperbag

Edited by RizzoTheRat on Friday 15th March 10:17

Abbott

2,496 posts

205 months

Friday 15th March
quotequote all
captain_cynic said:
eldar said:
I always seem to board a plane on the right, starboard, if you approach the plane, as usual, from the front.

Becomes port, once seated.
This. I believe it's a throwback to the old sailing days where you dock to the left (port).

It's just become tradition. Realistically you can board or alight from either side but everything is set up for port. Also this separates passenger traffic from service traffic, so people servicing the aircraft can continue to do so from the right hand side of the aircraft without worrying about stray holidaymakers.
This boarding on the port side seems to apply to jet fighters. Well all the ones I've seen in movies.

Clockwork Cupcake

75,191 posts

274 months

Friday 15th March
quotequote all
RizzoTheRat said:
Did you just assume Paua's gender? eek
It would be very rare for someone who is not a man to list in their profile that their name is "David" and their occupation is "fisherman"

Also, "did you assume <my/their> gender" is often considered a transphobic meme although I'm sure you didn't mean it that way.

Snow and Rocks

1,970 posts

29 months

Friday 15th March
quotequote all
Without wanting to derail things further but a largely anonymous online forum is surely the place where the gender/sex of those contributing is usually completely irrelevant.

I generally have no idea what sex, age, nationality posters are unless they choose a particularly revealing username or they make a deliberate point of highlighting it. It's a great leveller and allows anyone equal contributution.

nessiemac

1,587 posts

243 months

Friday 15th March
quotequote all
Clockwork Cupcake said:
eldar said:
I always seem to board a plane on the right, starboard, if you approach the plane, as usual, from the front.

Becomes port, once seated.
Unlike left and right, port and starboard never change depending on one's orientation. If you are facing the stern (back) then port is on your right, whereas if you face the bow (front) then port is on your left.

That's the whole point of port and starboard.

In other words, left and right are with respect to something (usually yourself) but port and starboard are always fixed to the ship (or plane in this case).
Just to add another point, in respect of commercial aircraft that is.

We don't really use port and starboard terminology.

We use a mix of left/right and numbers.

As in left main landing gear but number 1 brake unit for example.

Numbers are always as viewed as from the rear. On my aircraft, Airbus A320 family, we have left main landing gear with number 1 and 2 wheel and right main landing gear with number 3 and 4 wheel.

On a twin engine aircraft, number 1 engine is the left and number 2 the right.

We also use numbers for front to back or can be referred to as forward and aft.

Forward freight bay, aft freight bay etc.

The main forward entrance for PAX is door 1 left. The aft door on the right hand side would be door 2 right. This is on an Airbus A320.





Edited by nessiemac on Friday 15th March 12:35

Clockwork Cupcake

75,191 posts

274 months

Friday 15th March
quotequote all
Snow and Rocks said:
Without wanting to derail things further but a largely anonymous online forum is surely the place where the gender/sex of those contributing is usually completely irrelevant.

I generally have no idea what sex, age, nationality posters are unless they choose a particularly revealing username or they make a deliberate point of highlighting it. It's a great leveller and allows anyone equal contributution.
Oh, I completely agree.

My comment was made in jest, and would have possibly raised a smile amongst regulars. No harm meant.

Gladers01

635 posts

50 months

Friday 15th March
quotequote all
nessiemac said:
Clockwork Cupcake said:
eldar said:
I always seem to board a plane on the right, starboard, if you approach the plane, as usual, from the front.

Becomes port, once seated.
Unlike left and right, port and starboard never change depending on one's orientation. If you are facing the stern (back) then port is on your right, whereas if you face the bow (front) then port is on your left.

That's the whole point of port and starboard.

In other words, left and right are with respect to something (usually yourself) but port and starboard are always fixed to the ship (or plane in this case).
Just to add another point, in respect of commercial aircraft that is.

We don't really use port and starboard terminology.

We use a mix of left/right and numbers.

As in left main landing gear but number 1 brake unit for example.

Numbers are always as viewed as from the rear. On my aircraft, Airbus A320 family, we have left main landing gear with number 1 and 2 wheel and right main landing gear with number 3 and 4 wheel.

On a twin engine aircraft, number 1 engine is the left and number 2 the right.

We also use numbers for front to back or can be referred to as forward and aft.

Forward freight bay, aft freight bay etc.

The main forward entrance for PAX is door 1 left. The aft door on the right hand side would be door 2 right. This is on an Airbus A320.





Edited by nessiemac on Friday 15th March 12:35
Are the red/green flashing lights you see on the planes when they are flying over the same as on the boats ?

From my sailing days I remember them as the Captain LEFT his RED wine back at PORT the opposite side would be RIGHT,GREEN and STARBOARD.