Eurofighter Too Dangerous

Agence France-Presse reports that the new Eurofighter Typhoon is too dangerous to be flown solo:

Test pilots at QinetiQ, the ministry's independent technological research and evaluation arm, spent eight months sizing up the highly sophisticated warplane, 232 of which are to go into service with the Royal Air Force.

But in an April 30 report, they found three problems in what is supposed to be a single-seat, all-weather, multi-purpose fighter:

-- A computer system to alert the pilot when the aircraft is going too slow is inadequate. Until a better system is finalised, the report said, two pilots should be on board whenever "dynamic manoeuvres" are performed.

-- The cockpit flight information displays "frequently fail in flight", and therefore, whenever a Eurofighter is taken into cloud or bad weather, it should again be with two pilots.

-- "Corruption" of the flight control computer system means that it could suddenly switch from "in-flight" mode to "ground" mode in mid-air, leading to "immediately catastrophic" results.

[. . .]

The Eurofighter Typhoon is a multi-role combat jet with a range of 2,500 kilometres (1,560 miles) and can be equipped with a mix of s depending on its mission.

It is built by a four-nation consortium involving the French-Spanish-German group EADS, Britain's BAE Systems and Italy's Alenia, but is four years behind schedule and hundreds of millions of euros (dollars) over budget.

If it's too dangerous to fly solo do you fly it with two pilots and loose twice as many?

Comments

[VinoTinto]

Hehehe, that is not my information. All the pilots who tested the EF Typhoon said to be deeply impressed. This kind of troubles are usual in the latest development phases in a high tech aircraft like the EF. I remember the F-22 flying like a crazy horse during the final approach just before crashing against the runway some time ago…It was really funny (fortunately, the pilot ejected successfully).
The independent AMERICAN consulting RAND, reported some time ago that the EF Typhoon has more than 90% of the F-22 capabilities, but is about 50% cheaper, so the commercial victory for the EF over the F-22 is sure. Wow, this sounds to me like the Airbus vs. Boeing war…America is losing the ride, and it seems that the same is going to happen in the military aircraft industry.
The Apache Longbow has also a new commercial enemy, the Eurocopter Tiger.

Uuuhh the things are getting really bad for the American dominancy…

[Redneck Texan]

Kinda like the ESAs Mars Rover, The Beagle.......Splat.

[Marc]

Maybe we could equip Al-Qaeda with it!

Thats 464 less terrorists around. And if they plan the jet turnover correctly, they assume responsibility and take-off in central France, with a range of 2500 kliks they shouldn't make it to the border.

Kill two "birds" and a few "frogs" with one "stone."