Single seat fighter vs twin.

[yess]

i would like to know with technical aspect of single seat vs twin seat fighter jet and the pro and cons of both type. in single seat version the pilot has to take twice the work load as compared to twin seater fighter pilot can share work with the co-pilot while the pilot just concentrates on the flight and the co on the navigation, electronic warfare, weapons etc..

i personally favor the twin seater. what do you guys say..

 

[T-95]

i would like to know with technical aspect of single seat vs twin seat fighter jet and the pro and cons of both type. in single seat version the pilot has to take twice the work load as compared to twin seater fighter pilot can share work with the co-pilot while the pilot just concentrates on the flight and the co on the navigation, electronic warfare, weapons etc..

i personally favor the twin seater. what do you guys say..

Apparently if your on an A2A mission it's better to have a single seat airplane but when your on a multi-role mission or A2G it's better to have a two-seat fighter.

 

[yess]

but why is it better to have a single seat when you are on air to air mission? Top gun uses F-14 the twin seater and as you know top gun is a program made only for air superiority!

 

[kato]

Top gun uses F-14 the twin seater and as you know top gun is a program made only for air superiority!

Top Gun is a program made for twin-seater WSOs specifically. And F-18D crews also qualify in Top Gun.

 

[T-95]

but why is it better to have a single seat when you are on air to air mission? Top gun uses F-14 the twin seater and as you know top gun is a program made only for air superiority!

I was just guessing. But maybe those planes have two pilots because of the big radars(like F-14 and MiG-25/31) so they can operate like a mini-AWACS among other things. I don't really know.

 

[ahussains]

I was just guessing. But maybe those planes have two pilots because of the big radars(like F-14 and MiG-25/31) so they can operate like a mini-AWACS among other things. I don't really know.

It seems that Twins seats are much better then single one they can also play a role of the Single seat aircraft in Air Missions also while the single seat can work like the twin ones ... any suggestions ...

 

[ever4244]

but why is it better to have a single seat when you are on air to air mission? Top gun uses F-14 the twin seater and as you know top gun is a program made only for air superiority!

One important reason that F-14 having 2 seats is because he need pilot pay special attention on the flexible-sweepback ,considering at that time computer aid control is not as mature as now .

 

[meh]

I think that 2 seaters are better because they give you another set of eyes in the sky when 2 aircrafts are in close combat. The WOS can act as a look out to see if the enemy is behind you and what he is doing. Then again that is my opinion.

 

[nero]

It seems that Twins seats are much better then single one they can also play a role of the Single seat aircraft in Air Missions also while the single seat can work like the twin ones ... any suggestions ...

twin seats r better because in modern warfare, the pilot has to multi-task

multi-tasking is difficult & at times u lose what is known as Situational-awareness

in that case a backup second pilot comes in handy.

one pilot flies the plane while the other bothers about the mission. that way efficiency is increased , the burden is shared & stress levels greatly reduced on a single pilot.


.

 

[T-95]

twin seats r better because in modern warfare, the pilot has to multi-task

multi-tasking is difficult & at times u lose what is known as Situational-awareness

in that case a backup second pilot comes in handy.

one pilot flies the plane while the other bothers about the mission. that way efficiency is increased , the burden is shared & stress levels greatly reduced on a single pilot.


.

I think planes wit TVC can have only one pilot instead of two becuase the pilot doesn't have to worry about flying or stalling the plane. Sukhoi advertises the Su-30/35 that way.

 

[slider]

Single seat fighter v Twin Seat Fighter

Western made single seat fighters are the preferred option these days simply because of the high degree of sensor automation and sensor fusion which reduces pilot workload to a manageable level. All of the following fighters, the F-22, F-35, Gripen, Typhoon, and Rafale have very advanced computer systems and cockpit displays which take data from all the onboard and some off-board sensors and present the data in an accurate and easy to read format. Sensors such the AI radar, Infra Red Search and Track, Radar Warning Receiver, Electronic Support Measures and Data Links to mention but a few. Off board sensor information from AWACs would also come via Data Link. These modern fighters take the AWACS data link information and data link information from other fighters using the same system and marry it to all the other information coming into the aircraft to form a complete air picture providing situational awareness for the pilot - all automatically. The cockpit computer display screens make all this possible, the pilot is easily able to select what he wishes to see. So there is no need for a WSO in such aircraft, especially those concerned with Air to Air tasks.
For the more workload heavy tasks such as SEAD (Supression of Enemy Air Defences), Maritime Strike and Interdiction the workload becomes much heavier, particularly as the pilot may be flying close to the ground so that will occupy his attention, the WSO will concentrate on navigation, finding the target through his sensors, arming and dropping weapons, very much a team effort which would be too much for one man.
Another reason why 2 seats may be preferable to one is that some fighters/multi role aircraft these are still very much in the analogue cockpit age which have many individual dials. This alone presents a high workload factor so 2 heads are better than 1 in this respect.
It is true that 2 pairs of eye are better than 1 but with the amount of situational awareness provided by sensor fusion that second person is not needed anymore.

 

[yess]

very good answer slider! by any chance are you a professional defence analyst? hope you stick around this forum more often.

 

[slider]

Single Seat Fighter v Twin Seat Fighter

Me? A defence analyst, heck i wish i was, no, i just had some experience in that field and it's a big interest of mine, thanks for the compliment though.

 

[Scorpion82]

As Slider said,
in modern fighters systems are highly integrated and automated, therefore a single crew member is suitable. Of course is it better to have a second pair of eyes and for some missions a second crew member is desireable. But it is also important to note that a second cockpit means less fuel, more weight and maybe aerodynamical penalties as well. Operating costs are significantly higher with a second crew member to train and pay for service. Technological advanced have made it possible to task a single seater with diffcult missions in a complex scenario.

 

[Davyd]

Although it is interesting to note that the USN seems bent on ordering more F-18Fs to replace the Tomcats than Es. Being built as a larger Hornet and not Tomcat, it's almost surprising that they would choose that route. Guess they don't want WSOs to get dull and disappear. There are always going to be pros and cons for two vs one seaters. Of late i'd say it probably boils down to crew losses - hence all the UAVs and smaller crews on bigger aircraft. Sure, having extra banks of computers to do another crewmens' job is great and all.... But even with triple or quadruple redundancy most crewmen would take the stick and rudder over anything else - it's something they can trust.