I think it`s more natural to pull back for up and push forward for down; use the example of lifting something off the ground. You pull on it, and if you were putting, say, a helium balloon on the ground, you would push it down.

There is another question that has me curious though. Why is that the Captain sits on the left of the aircraft, and in single pilot aircraft, also on the elft.

My theory is that flight was invented in the US, and they drive from the LHS of the car. Nobody can confirm or deny that, and I haven`t done a web search to see if it throws up anything.

Now that theory goes down the drain with helicopters. In multi crew helicopters, the Captain sits on the right, and single crew helicopters, he still sits on the right. I think Igor Sikorsky invented the helicopter, but I`m not sure, and he was Russian. Do they drive on the RHS of the road in Russia? Not sure as I haven`t been there.