This is inspired by seeing Top Gun: Maverick, where one fighter has a second person in the cockpit as a weapons system officer, while the other doesn’t. Does the other aircraft only have a one-seat cockpit?
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They are in the same planes, an F18. No idea other than casting why they did this. I do not know if they could have gotten the right number of cast or what.
In-character, Maverick would likely prefer a single-seater to avoid having a repeat of the incident that killed Goose.
In real life, there are many single-seat fighters, many two-seat fighters, and in the case of the F18, both a one-seat and a two-seat variant.
Yes some aircraft only have the pilot, who is responsible for all functions of the plane. The two-seater aircraft split duties between the pilot and weapons officer to increase the amount of workload that can be accomplished by the aircraft.
Someone more knowledgeable will come along shortly, but that’s the super basic answer
Two seater fighters are typically used for training and air-to-ground missions. A/G jets usually have some sort of visual targeting system like a targeting pod or sniper which requires it’s own operator which is the responsibility of the WSO. Missions that only require air-to-air support are usually handled by one seater fighters. Missions like intercept and escort. I wish I was at my computer so I could explain this a little better but you get the jist.
Source: had jobs on both styles of jets
Division of labor. Aircraft with more complex weapons systems/radars require an additional guy to process it all and make decisions.
Strike aircraft (think tactical bombers) often require a second guy to assist with the weapons guidance systems.
Fighters with limited weapons systems and a greater degree of automation for the weapons they do have are often single seat aircraft. Better computers allow for modern fighter aircraft to be single seaters (think F-35, F-16) while older ones with weaker computers needed an additional weapons guy in the back seat (F-14, F-4)
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The two aircraft featured at the F/A-1E and F models.
E models have a single seat, while F models have the dual seat. They are functionally similar and do many of the same tasks.
Though the F model has the weapons system officer. Generally the second seat is to share workload for high workload missions, like operating the radar or targeting weapons while the pilot flies.
They can also serve as training aircraft but generally for mission sets that may be too much for one person to do while also flying the aircraft. >!like flying a terrain profile approach and target the weapons at the same time!<
That being said the systems *can* be operated by one person, and that’s even shown in the movie. Though it’s harder to target weapons accurately while maneuvering, advanced things like electronic warfare, or night fighting.
There’s downsides to the two seats though. IIRC reading somewhere that the second seat takes away like 300 gallons of fuel capacity relative to a single seater.
As for why both in the movie instead of just all F models, Likely casting/plot. >!since if there were 4 crew who ejected then they couldn’t have that tomcat cameo finally. Or they have to have 2. Which would just be pushing it. Even for Top Gun.!<
There is advantages and disadvantages of having a crew of one or two in a fighter. The goal here is to divide the work load of combat with the plane. The more work load there is the more having a WSO is important. But having a WSO also come with drawbacks since the plane need to make room for him. This can mean less fuel, more weight, etc. It also cost you more in training, you double the number of people you need for combat, etc. So usually you want only one pilot unless it’s necessary.
In general, a fighter designed for air combat won’t need a WSO. Most of the weapons are highly automated so the world load is usually manageable for just one pilot.
That said there is some exceptions. For example, the F-14 Tomcat was mainly an interceptor/air superiority fighter, but it had two seats. The reason was that the Tomcat main weapon was the AIM-54 Phoenix which was a long range anti-air missile that used a semi-active radar guidance. The way it work was that the Phoenix missile needed the radar of the F-14 to guide itself to the target at Beyond-visual range. This mean that the WSO had to be concentrated on the weapon during the long flight while the pilot took care of the fighter. Needing the radar of the fighter to be on is like a big blinking arrow that show to everybody where the fighter is, so that’s not ideal in combat. Modern radar guided missile are usually active now, meaning they have their own radar. For that reason, the work load is lower on modern fighter and they are usually single seat.
A fighter designed more toward ground attack will tend to have a WSO. The reason is because targeting something on the ground is far harder to do than targeting something in the air. There is a lot more stuff to hide on the ground, there is a lot more possible target and it’s harder to identify if it’s a friend or a foe. For those reason, some weapons add enough work load that having a WSO make a big difference.
Not all ground attack weapon need the same amount of work and the latest technology simplified a lot of task too. For example the F/A-18E is the single seat variant that is mostly used for air combat, while the F/A-18F is the two seat variant that is better equipped for ground attack. But the F-35 only have one seat variants because it have a lot of technology to help the pilot. The sensors, avionics, helmet-mounted display, and the targeting equipment like the EOTS.
TLDR : It always depend on what weapons the aircraft will mainly carry. Some weapons give too much work load for a pilot alone. Rule of Thumb is Air combat need only a pilot, while ground attack need a WSO. But that’s just a generic rule, it depend on the specific design of the aircraft and the technology.
I was an NFO when I was in the Navy. To answer your question the position exists to provide continual harassment of the monkey stick boys who are our voice operated auto pilots. The single seat aircraft are for the snowflakes that can’t handle being around superior beings.
Follow up question; how do WSOs not get airsick? Sounds horrid to just be twisting and turning without any input on the controls and looking down at the controls for the weapons
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