Real world question about CP/G flying from the front seat.

[monkie]

In real world operations, are all CP/G's also rated pilots fully qualified on the Apache or are some purely acting as the Gunner only? Also is there a requirement to fly from the front seat every so often? 

I am curious if CP/G's also have to fire so many rockets from the front seat while flying, etc or log so many landings from the front seat much like requirements for fixed wing currency?  

Is it a rank or command thing where a CP/G might be the mission commander and have full authority over all elements?

[GrEaSeLiTeNiN]

16 minutes ago, monkie said:

In real world operations, are all CP/G's also rated pilots fully qualified on the Apache or are some purely acting as the Gunner only? Also is there a requirement to fly from the front seat every so often? 

I am curious if CP/G's also have to fire so many rockets from the front seat while flying, etc or log so many landings from the front seat much like requirements for fixed wing currency?  

Is it a rank or command thing where a CP/G might be the mission commander and have full authority over all elements?

Casmo answers some of your questions in his YouTube vid here.

[Razor18]

39 minutes ago, monkie said:

In real world operations, are all CP/G's also rated pilots fully qualified on the Apache or are some purely acting as the Gunner only? Also is there a requirement to fly from the front seat every so often? 

I am curious if CP/G's also have to fire so many rockets from the front seat while flying, etc or log so many landings from the front seat much like requirements for fixed wing currency?  

Is it a rank or command thing where a CP/G might be the mission commander and have full authority over all elements?

To your 1st question, they are totally interchangeable, fully qualified for both seats.

[frostycab]

I asked Casmo about this during one of his Twitch streams. He said both roles are fully interchangeable, and it's not uncommon for crews to swap seats on alternating sorties. Doing so means that both crew members remain fully capable in whichever seat they fly in, and means that they are also intimately familiar with both seats in terms of operation, tactics, limitations etc.

[Raptor9]

16 hours ago, monkie said:

In real world operations, are all CP/G's also rated pilots fully qualified on the Apache or are some purely acting as the Gunner only? Also is there a requirement to fly from the front seat every so often? 

This may vary between different nation's and how they structure it.  In the US Army, as others have mentioned, all AH-64 crews are trained in both seats, and are more or less interchangeable.  To this end, there is a minimum amount of flight time they are required to log in each seat throughout the year.

16 hours ago, monkie said:

I am curious if CP/G's also have to fire so many rockets from the front seat while flying, etc or log so many landings from the front seat much like requirements for fixed wing currency?

Not necessarily.  Employing rockets independently while flying the aircraft functions identically in either seat.  Same thing for various flight maneuvers, they can be performed in either seat since they are performed identically from either seat.  90% of what can be done in the aircraft can be done from either seat, so every AH-64D is both a combat-capable aircraft as well as a trainer aircraft, with no changes in cockpit configuration.

16 hours ago, monkie said:

Is it a rank or command thing where a CP/G might be the mission commander and have full authority over all elements?

Again, this may vary between nation's, but since they are interchangeable in the US Army, either the pilot or CPG can be the pilot-in-command of that aircraft, and the mission commander of that team can occupy either seat of the aircraft they are operating from.

In the US Army, pilot-in-command (PC) and air mission commander (AMC) are positions that are not based on rank, but experience and judgement.  There have been missions where a CW2 (Chief Warrant Officer 2) could be the AMC of a team of two AH-64's, with a CW4, a Captain, and a Colonel as the other three aviators in the team; and the CW2 is in command, despite being out-ranked by everyone.  It's an interesting dynamic, but ultimately all four members of that team are professionals working toward one goal, and that's to accomplish the mission. Rarely is there ever an issue of rank vs position in such a scenario.

[monkie]

Thanks for the replies, very interesting.