Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!apple!veritas!amdcad!amdcad!military From: jln@leland.stanford.edu (Jared Nedzel) Newsgroups: sci.military Subject: Re: Can the backseater in f-18's bring it home? Message-ID: <1991Apr22.072016.25540@amd.com> Date: 19 Apr 91 16:24:41 GMT References: <1991Apr18.032319.21395@amd.com> Sender: military@amd.com Organization: AIR, Stanford University Lines: 44 Approved: military@amd.com From: jln@leland.stanford.edu (Jared Nedzel) >From: "Hanhwe N. Kim" >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?, Some 2 seat planes have sticks in back, some don't. The back seater is not a pilot, so he may or may not be able to land the plane (provided, of course, that he has a stick in the first place). >And generalizing from there, why are 2-seaters considered more survivable? That's not the reason that some people think that 2-seaters are more survivable. The advantage of a 2-seater is that you have 2 sets of eyes during air combat. >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. You've made a bit of a mistake here. The F-18 is primarily a single-seater. Korea originally chose the F-18 because it has 2 engines, while the F-16 only has one. This was considered especially important because Korea is a peninsula nation, so many flights are over water. Many feel that twin-engine planes are more survivable than single-engine planes. >Obviously, there are positive human factors from dividing the workload, >but are there purely technical factors involved as well? >Just curious. There were several other issues in Korea's decision not to get the F-18. First off, the price on the F-18 escalated significantly, resulting in a significantly lower price for the F-16. Second, the F-18 has a much shorter range than the F-16. Recent issues of Aviation Week have covered this story -- you can probably find them in your engineering library. -- Jared L. Nedzel nedzel@cive.stanford.edu jln@portia.stanford.edu