Eagle's early design placed islands on both sides of the flight deck with aircraft landing between them. Trials associated with Furious persuaded designers that pilots commonly turned to port in an emergency, making a port-side structure hazardous. The resulting single starboard island became one of the conversion's most consequential operational design choices. It is a compact example of human behavior during flight emergencies overriding an arrangement that looked workable on paper.
Notable Point · 18:32-19:45
Flight trials replace Eagle's twin-island proposal
Experience aboard Furious helped eliminate a twin-island arrangement that could put a structure in the path of a pilot turning to port during an emergency.