RSS Feeds
Vehicles
Inside the Typhoon Eurofighter Cockpit (Verdict: Oh boy)
Posted by Jesus Diaz at 1:00 AM on November 17, 2007
After sneaking into the fastest turboprop private plane in the world, I got into the cockpit of the Typhoon Eurofighter at the Dubai Air Show. From the ground the aircraft is amazing—you don't realise how huge these things are until you start to climb the stairs to get into the cockpit. To get in you have to stand on the seat and squeeze yourself, which helped me understand why they picked a dwarf like Tom Cruise for Maverick. They may as well have picked Frodo. Unfortunately, once I was in I saw that the whole instrumentation was not real but a mockup. So yes, although it was quite cool, at the end I felt like Mavedork, 80s pilot glasses included.
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
Worf
Posted 1:24 PM 16/11/07
Fighter cockpits are tiny - I believe for the US Air Force, 5'8" is close to the maximum height they allow for fighters (5'8" is considered an "average height" person).
But smaller people are better in the end - they withstand G's way better than larger people, which is another factor...
Worf
strider_mt2k
Posted 11:32 AM 16/11/07
Just needs a little touch up!
-just a little touch up!
-"Deal of the Century"
(I gave that to you because of a high level of obscurity in the reference.)
strider_mt2k
SharkByte
Posted 10:11 AM 16/11/07
didn't care about the plane, just wanted the movie reference. which you got! mission accomplished...
SharkByte
flyboy
Posted 10:09 AM 16/11/07
@apeguero:
forget the cockpit - its flying itself and the action is ONLY inside the helmet.
yes the F35 is good, but the Euro fighter is technically better at dogfighting, it comes down to the sensing systems and ability to engage in first place....
flyboy
tayaya
Posted 10:06 AM 16/11/07
@SharkByte: It's a Typhoon, not an F-16.
tayaya
apeguero
Posted 9:58 AM 16/11/07
Is it me or is that cockpit so 20th century?
Get with the program Europeans and start spending some of that over-priced Euro to catch up to the F22 or XF35. Actually, most of you will get the XF35 to replace the Euro Fighter so forget my comment. Man. I think the Russians have a better looking cockpit in their SU37 than this one.
apeguero
flyboy
Posted 9:54 AM 16/11/07
i wonder if the many bumps on the helmet are for mind control sensors in the case of High G conditions where you can think of an answer and have the auto attack complete the thought .....
[www.graduates-baesystems.com]
flyboy
SharkByte
Posted 9:39 AM 16/11/07
wheres the tape recorder strapped to his leg playing Queen's "One Vision"?
SharkByte
flyboy
Posted 9:21 AM 16/11/07
showing off the actual cockpit?
anyway - its not the cockpit that's cool but the pilot's helmet and the flight control/ combat software:
[www.eurofighter.com]
especially the auto attack - when the pilot is incapable due to High G, etc..
[www.eurofighter.com]
flyboy
dontforget
Posted 9:19 AM 16/11/07
@NZRUSS: quote of the year
dontforget
NZRUSS
Posted 8:55 AM 16/11/07
Lucky you discovered it wasn't real when you did. Last time that happened to me I was at 15,000FT over Baghdad.
NZRUSS
DustyButt
Posted 8:47 AM 16/11/07
No cupholder?
Sheeesh.
DustyButt
jesusdiaz
Posted 8:45 AM 16/11/07
What was I expecting? A real cockpit?
Dude, it was fake. But equally cool.
jesusdiaz
JChristopher
Posted 8:41 AM 16/11/07
Contact!!! Oh wait, wrong era.
JChristopher
Stang70Fastback
Posted 8:40 AM 16/11/07
I'm not gonna lie - that guy seemed like the snobbiest, most spoiled guy I've ever seen the way he was like "it's not real..."
What exactly was he expecting???
Stang70Fastback
oo0cyst0oo
Posted 6:54 PM 16/11/07
you and addy suck. i hope you're havin fun on your dumb vacation. ugh ;)
oo0cyst0oo
M3oW
Posted 10:24 AM 16/11/07
@flyboy: The F35 stills wins at this moment. The Eurofighter may fly it's self but, as many know. War can not be won without a person actually flying. And dogfighting? Last time US has seen a dogfight was in Vietnam. Now days, the people we fight don't have planes or we bomb them before they get off the ground. The only thing I can see the Eurofighter winning over a F35, is if we go to war with China.
M3oW
spinner
Posted 3:15 AM 17/11/07
@oo0cyst0oo: I'm so with you.
The life of a fucking blogger, for fuck's sake. I totally lucked out.
Nick Denton: Employ me.
spinner
thirdgen
Posted 12:28 AM 18/11/07
@M3oW:
There are quite a few Dessert Storm pilots who would beg to differ with your assertion that the US hasn't dog-fought since Vietnam. We brought down quite a few Iraqi MiGs in the run-up to the ground invasion.
thirdgen
Crescent
Posted 11:19 AM 19/11/07
US has not done dogfight, iraki migs are sitting ducks for your smart air to air missiles. Besides most of the iraqi army was paid to stay at home, I`m guessing so were the pilots...
Crescent