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From: hnkst2@unix.cis.pitt.edu (Hanhwe N. Kim)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Can the backseater in f-18's bring it home?
Message-ID: <1991Apr18.032319.21395@amd.com>
Date: 17 Apr 91 06:01:57 GMT
Sender: military@amd.com
Organization: University of Pittsburgh
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From: "Hanhwe N. Kim" <hnkst2@unix.cis.pitt.edu>


I have a question about the 2-seater planes the US navy likes:
Can the guy in the back seat bring the plane home if the pilot
is incapacitated in any way?
And generalizing from there, why are 2-seaters considered more
survivable?

Recently in Korea, the air force reversed an earlier decision to
get f-18's and got f-16's instead. In the previous debates, it was
argued that pilots liked the f-18 better because of its higher
survivability due to its being a 2-seater.

Obviously, there are positive human factors from dividing the workload,
but are there purely technical factors involved as well?
Just curious.
-Han Kim