re: The guys who ride behind the pilot in jet fighters..

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Yes - less than perfect eyesight initially a disqualified you to be a navy pilot - you used to have to have 20/20 uncorrectable in order to fly the plane. There was a time, however, when the Navy decided to retrain a few experienced NFOs who had correctable 20/20 vision to be pilots. After going through a rigorous selection process they had to once again go through flight school - this time as pilots. These aviators were referred to as “retreads”. Unfortunately the plan didn’t always work as well as the navy would have liked. A good percentage of retreads back then didn’t make it - many crashed and burned. Part of the problem was that the skills necessary to being a good RIO weren’t necessarily interchangeable with the skills needed to be a good pilot. Having good eyesight was only a small part of the equation. Out of the group of guys I retreaded with, half died due to failing to exercise good judgement in the plane. The saying back then used to be that retreading turned a great RIO into an average pilot. Another part of the problem was that these equally ranked retreads were challenged with having to play “catch-up” to their already experienced pilot peers who hadn’t had to take time away from their flying career to go thru the training command once again. Once the Navy retired the tomcat and went to f18s these failure incidents became much less. The hornet is a lot easier plane to land on a carrier. And now with all auto throttle landing, the “magic carpet ride” makes things even simpler.

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