Two engines and two seats... I'm sold!!
Build a good engine and train a good pilot and you only need one of each.
Two engines and two seats... I'm sold!!
Isn't that a YF-17 with NAVY painted on the sides?
My uncle flew F-4s and said that everything was pretty much the same. I believe that they either welded or bolted the arresting hook to the airframe.
My uncle flew F-4s and said that everything was pretty much the same. I believe that they either welded or bolted the arresting hook to the airframe.
Unlikely. The USAF still takes field traps when needed. The F-16 and F-15 both have hooks up under panels they can use.
The F-4C was the same a/c as the Navy F-4B except that it had a stick in the back seat (they initially flew it w/ 2 pilots) & the AF female refueling receptacle behind the canopy. The "D" & "E" models were much more tailored to AF requirements.
Build a good engine and train a good pilot and you only need one of each.
FOD kills a good engine just as easy as a bad engine and I'll take four sets of eyes over two.
Not often enough to justify the extra expense of adding a second cockpit nor to train someone to sit back there. 4 sets of eyes RARELY make that big of a difference. Granted, dual seats has its benefits sometimes, but technology has quickly minimized its usefulness.
Not often enough to justify the extra expense of adding a second cockpit nor to train someone to sit back there. 4 sets of eyes RARELY make that big of a difference. Granted, dual seats has its benefits sometimes, but technology has quickly minimized its usefulness.
Noted is your vast experience of flying with the second set of eyes and another brain in an operational environment in the jet. Just because you could maybe do the mission single seat if everything works perfect doesn't mean it's best done single seat and my experience with technology is that it makes the envelope of the possible mission expand faster than the ability of the crew to become expert in and excute that expanded role.
We're buying jets that will be operational for the next 50 years. Buying them all as single seat will be a mission limiter.
JMHO: (a) Technology has made the value of the RIO/WSO/ECMO even more critical because it exponentially multiplies running the AA & Air-to-Mud gear while allowing the pilot to fly the plane in the most effective manner possible for the mission at hand; and,
(b) It's that 2nd set of eyeballs that makes you aware of the bogey sliding into your 6 so that you can live to fight another day.
If you'd rather have 600lbs more gas than what that 2nd seater provides, then your ego is definitely larger than your good judgment (if not brains).
....
An extra pair of eyes AND an extra brain ... now we're talkin'.
Another corollary that I've discovered: if I'm 'going downtown' or crossin' the Big Pond ... more eyes (and hands and brains) are always mo' bettah'.
Just my $20 worth ...