B737 captain reports that the communication panels on his aircraft have been moved to the side conso...

Narrative:

I have been flying the 737 for over a month now and I discovered a serious safety concern. In my 20 years of flying; the radio control panel has been on the center console for both the captain and first officer. While the captain taxied the aircraft with his/her left hand on the control wheel steering; their right hand is able to select the radios when the first officer is switching between radio 1 and radio 2. The first officer can also select the radio in use for the captain.with the current radio panel setup on the captain's left side; I am forced to take my hand off the tiller while in a turn to switch the radio panel. This has caused the aircraft to jerk when I release the NWS (nose wheel steering) to select a radio. If any flight attendants are up and about they could get hurt. Now when I have to select a different radio; I stop the aircraft; then I switch the radio. This is a real safety concern and should be addressed.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B737 Captain reports that the communication panels on his aircraft have been moved to the side console from the center pedestal making it difficult to steer the aircraft during taxi and make changes to the radios.

Narrative: I have been flying the 737 for over a month now and I discovered a serious safety concern. In my 20 years of flying; the radio control panel has been on the center console for both the Captain and First Officer. While the Captain taxied the aircraft with his/her left hand on the control wheel steering; their right hand is able to select the radios when the First Officer is switching between radio 1 and radio 2. The First Officer can also select the radio in use for the Captain.With the current radio panel setup on the Captain's left side; I am forced to take my hand off the tiller while in a turn to switch the radio panel. This has caused the aircraft to jerk when I release the NWS (nose wheel steering) to select a radio. If any flight attendants are up and about they could get hurt. Now when I have to select a different radio; I stop the aircraft; then I switch the radio. This is a real safety concern and should be addressed.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	1258802
Time
Date	201505
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ORD.Airport
State Reference	IL
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B737 Undifferentiated or Other Model
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Taxi
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Integrated Audio System
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 300 Flight Crew Total 13000 Flight Crew Type 3000
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe

B737 captain reports that the communication panels on his aircraft have been moved to the side console from the center pedestal making it difficult to steer the aircraft during taxi and make changes to the radios.