Darkside 2
Sorry just to clarify I am one of the J boys – so yes that probably does make me biased, since I know what the ac is and can do.
However, I say again, the views were from experienced K guys who now fly the J and have spent most of their fairly lengthy careers involved in “the more esoteric roles” you elude to. Interestingly TS course development would seem to suggest that the pilot workload in the TS environment is considerably lower in the J.
Perhaps that because of the way the information is presented to the crews.
‘Anyone who has ever flown knows that pilot performance is inversely proportional to information inputs, either visually or audible’ – bit of a sweeping statement really.
Yes I guess its true if the information comes from five other voices on a noisy intercom, a random scattering of warning lights and more dials than you can shake a stick at. If however the information is presented in a simple graphical form lying in the pilot’s field of view then assimilating information becomes a lot easier. Radios wise - well how strange that on a recent TS exercise the only ac to pick up an all important HF message was a J.
Facilitator obviously has his own views as to whether or not the ac needs an extra someone in the third seat for more demanding roles. I think however we won’t really know until it’s tried. However what's your point - some K crews will carry an extra person for certain roles so I guess there still isn’t that much spare capacity among a five man crew.
The costly bespoke upgrades we are talking about presumably means that these half dozen very tired C1s are going to soldier on in this particular role for the next 5 to 10 years. The TS courses start in the New Year and by the time the kit arrives for the C1s the J will be well established as an airdrop platform.
Its time someone bit the bullet and realised that what we really need are half a dozen J frames with FLIR and a full DAS. The stuff will bolt straight into the ac’s avionics racks and displays and will give us a platform that will do the job for many years to come.
hush my mouth
