Why are trucks and planes controlled from the front, but most big ships controlled from the back?
In: Engineering
It may be hard to see the path in front of you if you are stuck behind the cargo compartment. But if you sit in front of the vehicle you do not see the sides for when you are turning. So in all of the vehicle types you mention the operator sits as far back as possible while still being able to see in front of him. For example on a cruise ship the bridge is at the front. However on an agricultural tractor the drivers seat is often right over the rear axle. A lot of sports cars put the drivers seat close to the center of the car or even a bit behind the center. Some planes now have taxi cameras mounted at the tail allowing the pilot to taxi from the vantage point of the tail instead of only looking out the cockpit windows in the front. Cargo ships is different from cruise ships as cargo is heavier then the mostly empty space of a cruise ship. And because the weight of a ship equals its displacement you can not stack containers as high as a cruise ship so you can mount the bridge further back so you can see over the containers and still boats and docks on the side of the ship.
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