Considerations for migrating aging military transport aircraft to two person cockpits

Combat delivery transports originally designed in the 1950s, such as the C-130 Hercules (H model and older), were designed to require a four-position cockpit. This consisted of a captain (pilot), first officer (copilot), a navigator and a flight engineer. Newly designed commercial airliners and military transport aircraft are inherently designed for operation by a two-person flight deck crew. This reduction to a captain and first officer is made possible through recent advances in digital avionics integration. These advances provide increased automation, simpler crew interfaces, and improved situational awareness through data and sensor fusion. Military operators with restricted budgets are looking to extend the life of aircraft that are already in inventory. Interest has been shown in the possible redesign of legacy four-person cockpits to reduce the crew to a captain and first officer. The intent of this paper is to explore the possibility of retrofitting legacy military aircraft to allow migration to a two-person flight deck.