Originally Posted by
Jazzed91
In North American aviation, left and right are often referred to as the #1 and #2 sides. The #1 side being the side the Captain sits on (left) and #2 being the side the First Officer sits on (right). That helps avoid confusion in certain situations, such as a ground handler giving signals to a crew during pushback (the crew is facing forward, the ground handler is looking towards the tail).
But referring to the #1 and #2 sides means even less to the general travelling public than port and starboard does, so they're usually only used internally between some employees.
Yea engines are more commonly referred by crew members as #1 , #2 (and #3 , #4 ) rather than left, right.
What makes things more interesting is that in many cases it is possible that a pilot with four strips on each shoulder sits on the right hand side. For example, flight instructor, flight examiner, and captain substituting a first officer. This means that the person on the right can be more senior than the person on the left. Whether they will be the PIC or not is a different question.