Why is it advantageous during defence missions around Australasia to have two crew sitting side by side as in the F-111s?
Aircraft with two seat cockpits have historically been favoured for long endurance or long range missions, as this allows the crew members to take turns flying the aircraft, reducing the fatigue experienced by the crew. Fatigue is a major contributor to accidents, and has been implicated in at least one recent friendly fire incident involving a single seat fighter. In general, a two seat crew provides redundancy, it allows cockpit workload to be shared, and allows crew members to check each others’ actions in high pressure situations, thus contributing to flight safety.
