Fleet Air Arm
Observer is still the term used in the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm (FAA) for most non-pilot aircrew officers. The term dates back to one of the original roles of aircraft at sea, in the big gun era, which was to observe fall of shot, and radio back gunnery correction to their ship. Thus the observer originally had to be a highly trained gunnery officer, often senior in rank to the pilot. Unusually, in the FAA, an observer could rise to squadron commander. Modern FAA anti-submarine and transport helicopters are still crewed by a pilot and observer, the observer being responsible for managing the detection and weapon systems - while the pilot does the flying, the observer "fights the aircraft" making the necessary tactical and navigational decisions.
Read more about this topic: Air Observer
Famous quotes containing the words fleet, air and/or arm:
“They ... fleet the time carelessly, as they did in the golden world.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“I remember when I was first assigned to jets. I said to the colonel, “Colonel, I joined this man’s air force to fly an airplane. But nobody’s gonna hitch me to no Roman candle.””
—Kurt Neumann (1906–1958)
“And they lie like wedges,
Thick end to thin end and thin end to thick end,
And are a figure of the way the strong
Of mind and strong of arm should fit together,
One thick where one is thin and vice versa.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)