F-15E Strike Eagle...only a 2-seater?

[Pajeezy]

So I've been an aircraft buff for pretty much my whole life. Now I don't claim to know everything, by any means, but I do have a good grasp on a lot of basic things regarding a lot of them. I've known of the strike eagle since forever ago, and always known it to be a 2-seater ATG variation of the F-15.

 

I was talking to my co-worker today, and she was telling me how she has a niece who is a fighter pilot. This intrigued me, so I asked her, "Oh, what does she fly??" I was expecting either the 16 or 15. She texts her niece to find out and later that night she responds telling her that she flies the F-15. I thought this was pretty awesome, so I asked her what model. She found out that she flies the E model, which I thought was also pretty intriguing/awesome. So I was like "Oh, so she flies in a two-seater. Is she actually the pilot or is she the RIO?" Her niece responds that she is the pilot, and that it is only a single seat aircraft...Huh?

 

So I implore her to respond to her niece asking if she's correct, since I've only ever known the E to be a 2-seater. Her niece responds back saying that it is, and that I should keep up to date with my research...lol

 

So anyway, I looked it up everywhere I could and found NO mention of there being such a thing. What do you guys think? Is there maybe some super secret single seat version that the general public doesn't know about? Or am I missing something? I can't imagine that the pilot of the "F-15E" doesn't know their own aircraft...

[aaron886]

Not sure what you're looking for here, you already know the answer.

[rassy7]

Maybe they knocked down the wall and share a super deep, skinny bench seat like my parents' '85 Suburban. Of course there's always the outside chance a miscommunication took place.

[RagnarDa]

Maybe someone is pulling your leg?

[104th_Maverick]

Is there maybe some super secret single seat version that the general public doesn't know about?

 

No, all the gear needed to drop the precision nasty stuff is in the back, so a solo Eagle-E pilot could not complete a combat sortie on his own, unless it was air to air.

 

Your friend is probably confused / misunderstood something... if they are sure she flies alone she's C model crew probably. An E can be flown with one pilot but not operationally, they put the second seat in it for very good reasons.

 

A solo E pilot could conduct certain air to ground missions with unguided munitions but its very unlikely the aircraft would ever be utilized in this fashion.

[lunaticfringe]

That she contacted the niece tells you that she is what we call a "stolen valor" thief.

 

Ask her which RTU class she went through.

[Scrim]

Or just maybe, before screaming "stolen valour" (yes, it's spelled with a "u" :D ), we'll take into consideration the link of events: Someone with a great interest in planes ask someone which plane she is flying, through a person who probably only knew it was the F-15, and has no idea what "Strike Eagle", "C", "E", etc. means in this context. Maybe someone confused F-15E with F-15 Eagle?

Edited February 21, 2014 by Scrim

[Pilotasso]

So I've been an aircraft buff for pretty much my whole life. Now I don't claim to know everything, by any means, but I do have a good grasp on a lot of basic things regarding a lot of them. I've known of the strike eagle since forever ago, and always known it to be a 2-seater ATG variation of the F-15.

 

I was talking to my co-worker today, and she was telling me how she has a niece who is a fighter pilot. This intrigued me, so I asked her, "Oh, what does she fly??" I was expecting either the 16 or 15. She texts her niece to find out and later that night she responds telling her that she flies the F-15. I thought this was pretty awesome, so I asked her what model. She found out that she flies the E model, which I thought was also pretty intriguing/awesome. So I was like "Oh, so she flies in a two-seater. Is she actually the pilot or is she the RIO?" Her niece responds that she is the pilot, and that it is only a single seat aircraft...Huh?

 

So I implore her to respond to her niece asking if she's correct, since I've only ever known the E to be a 2-seater. Her niece responds back saying that it is, and that I should keep up to date with my research...lol

 

So anyway, I looked it up everywhere I could and found NO mention of there being such a thing. What do you guys think? Is there maybe some super secret single seat version that the general public doesn't know about? Or am I missing something? I can't imagine that the pilot of the "F-15E" doesn't know their own aircraft...

 

I interpret this as a conversation being started in an attempt to get your attention --since you are into aviation-- for an obvious trap-date. :)

[Weta43]

You could give the Aunt the benefit of the doubt...

I've (really) got a niece that works in the fashion industry.

She makes dresses - I've seen her wear them, and her mother has proudly shown them off.

I'm pretty sure that in her eyes 'she makes dresses' would count as a complete bastardisation of whatever it is she actually does. Doesn't make me a liar - just not all that interested in the details...

The niece's family are probably all proud of what she does (a 'fighter pilot'), but that's no guarantee if that if you rang and asked her mother what her daughter does, she'd know exactly what she does ... (& an Aunt quite possibly rang her Sister/Brother/Own Mother etc, not the niece directly)

[lunaticfringe]

Or just maybe, before screaming "stolen valour" (yes, it's spelled with a "u" :D ),

 

No, on this side of the pond, it is not. Seems that we fought a war to do away with excess vowels in addition to taxation without representation, so there. :P

 

we'll take into consideration the link of events: Someone with a great interest in planes ask someone which plane she is flying, through a person who probably only knew it was the F-15, and has no idea what "Strike Eagle", "C", "E", etc. means in this context. Maybe someone confused F-15E with F-15 Eagle?

 

You should check that sequence of events- OP states the aunt asked the niece, and the niece responded in the affirmative that it was a single seat aircraft. Thus my challenge to class number. It could be used to validate type *OR* truthfulness.

 

And if she were the backseater, she'd be the WSO, not RIO.

[mr_mojo97]

That's funny cos I do believe Tom Skerrit in Top Gun mentioned Goose as a RIO. ;) I know they were tomcats but surely it's the same, eh?

[NoJoe]

Doesn't RIO stand for some thing like "Radar Intercept Officer", while WSO is "Weapon Systems Officer" or something like that? So both would be correct in their respective contexts. :D

 

And I've had a father proudly tell me his son flies a Super Hornet while we're standing right in front of him preflighting a C- model Hornet. I figured it wouldn't do any good to point that out; that his son flies a fighter is close enough for the proud dad. :)

[lunaticfringe]

The terminology was service specific; USAF never used the term RIO, primary reason being that the guy in the back seat of the two-seat jet was given credit for employing his role in the aircraft in a specific fashion, given that he had a full set of flight controls as well and could have flown it, while the man up front was without the reverse option.

 

Now, no one uses it; it's operationally WSO across the board- USAF, USMC, USN. All the same, all the time; joint operations nomenclature rears its head. From time to time, you may hear transitioned F-14 crews utter it, but it is nowhere near proper.

 

Frankly, using the term RIO in relation to a USAF officer, or making "contextual" excuses is bad form and shows an ignorance with regards to its usage. It was never interchangeable but for the lazy.

 

I would expect people being corrected would be willing to pay the officer's role the proper level of respect, in accordance with their education, rank, and work to enter into the role, but that's me.

 

But boy, call an Englishman Welsh, a Scot a Brit, or the Welsh Scotsmen, and you better hold on to your hat because of lines on a map.

[lunaticfringe]

And I've had a father proudly tell me his son flies a Super Hornet while we're standing right in front of him preflighting a C- model Hornet. I figured it wouldn't do any good to point that out; that his son flies a fighter is close enough for the proud dad. :)

 

And his dad would know damned good and well to call him an aviator, a weapons system officer, a WSO, or an NFO, as appropriate. He'd not call him a RIO, because the implication was never offered.

 

Specific designations and marques of aircraft are welcome to be confused; not everyone is a pedant on the technical side of the house. However, the schooling of one's offspring is something more specific and deserving of attention, and confusion on that fact is much more rare. I've come across parents that outright didn't know the type of aircraft, yet knew their child's rank, designation, squadron number, name, and motto. The pride isn't that they fly a specific type, but have a specific skillset they have achieved.

 

Thus, this is why the actual response of the OP's coworker's niece is what makes it odd.

[Rincevent]

No, on this side of the pond, it is not. Seems that we fought a war to do away with excess vowels in addition to taxation without representation, so there. :P

 

You, sir, made my day:megalol:

[Gary M]

No, on this side of the pond, it is not. Seems that we fought a war to do away with excess vowels in addition to taxation without representation, so there.

 

Careful there, cousin: North of the 49th we're still forced to spell things ye olde fashioned way....

 

Although still mired in infantile attempts to establish a national identity simply by being different than y'all, we're most definitely on this side of the pond ;)

 

Heh

 

Yours in humoUr,

 

Gary

[Scrim]

No, on this side of the pond, it is not. Seems that we fought a war to do away with excess vowels in addition to taxation without representation, so there. :P

 

Look, I'm not even British, but I have to react to things like this. It's one thing to get pissed off at your enemy and urinate on his dead guys, that's understandable to a point. But to completely and utterly ravage and mutilate a language by speaking that primitive, pidgin English you call "American English" is to take it too far! Off to the Hague with y'all, it's time to answer for what you've done :P

[Gary M]

Off to the Hague with y'all, it's time to answer for what you've done :P

 

:lol: Brilliant! :lol:

 

Cheers!

 

Gary

[JB3DG]

;2002063']No, all the gear needed to drop the precision nasty stuff is in the back, so a solo Eagle-E pilot could not complete a combat sortie on his own, unless it was air to air.

 

Your friend is probably confused / misunderstood something... if they are sure she flies alone she's C model crew probably. An E can be flown with one pilot but not operationally, they put the second seat in it for very good reasons.

 

A solo E pilot could conduct certain air to ground missions with unguided munitions but its very unlikely the aircraft would ever be utilized in this fashion.

 

Weird....My studies of the -34-1-1 show that the guy up front has full control over all the combat systems except certain ECM functions. He can "take command" of a SOI that the guy in the back is using if he wishes. Although I would imagine that would increase his workload considerably. Either way though PGMs can be delivered from the front as well as the back.

[lunaticfringe]

But to completely and utterly ravage and mutilate a language by speaking that primitive, pidgin English you call "American English" is to take it too far! Off to the Hague with y'all, it's time to answer for what you've done :P

 

To the victor go the spoils, or the right to toss them out with the babe'd bathwater. :P

 

The new buzzword on the campuses of higher education on both sides of the Atlantic is "microaggression". Inferring that the subsequent removal of extra vowels is a form of ignorance could be classified as such. But given that I "aggress to impress", I'll let these slide, but with one caveat:

 

If you want to talk about pidgin languages, you'd best bring the ebonics, French Creole, or Quebecois French to task. Otherwise, we're going to have words. :D

[Scrim]

Awfully sorry old chap, could you rewrite that in the King's English? I'm rather afraid I don't speak the pidgin English that is the norm over in the Colonies. :music_whistling:

[lunaticfringe]

Elizabeth is packing an undercarriage?

 

I'd advise you to contact the Daily Mail and make your millions now before she hands it all off to Charles...

[badger66]

Why don't you just ask is it A2A or A2G or both capable ?

 

The niece might be well fit ..... !!!

[badger66]

Awfully sorry old chap, could you rewrite that in the King's English? I'm rather afraid I don't speak the pidgin English that is the norm over in the Colonies. :music_whistling:

 

Lmfao ..... that's what I was thinkin .

 

But leave em alone on that , as they invented the world ............. :music_whistling:

[lunaticfringe]

I'm still confused as to what monarch is being referred to in the statement of the "King's English", being that Elizabeth is still reputed to be female (and the gender of the current ruler sets the proper naming convention).

 

Like I said, though- if she's packing an undercarriage, I'm sure the tabloids would pay big bucks.