Of the factors influencing the outcome of a dogfight, by far and away the most important is the quality of the person in the driver's seat; it matters not how good the aircraft and its systems are if the pilot cannot take advantage of the aircraft's superiority. A prime example of this was my only flight in the back seat of a USAF F-15D in Oman (where 1 was on loan for two years from the RAF). A pair of F-15s were taken out by a pair of old Hunters because the lead F-15 pilot had made some erroneous decisions prior to the flight and then did not use the full capabilities of his aircraft. The view from the F-15, even in the back seat, is stunning - like sitting on top of a mountain. We were the lead of a pair on a visual Combat Air Patrol (CAP) at about 20,000ft and, importantly, both sides also had use of an AWACS airborne radar aircraft. In the pre-flight brief the leader (who 1 was flying with) decided that the No.2 would set his synthetic radar picture (a much clearer picture than the raw radar with all its clutter) to search from deck level to 22,000ft while the leader would search from 18,000 to 30,000ft.
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