I'm aware the F-22 doesn't have a twin seat variant but it is hardly fair to compare the JF-17 to the F-22. Firstly the F-22 is arguably the most advanced fighter on the world, a two seat variant wasn't felt needed because the systems on board meant having a WSO was felt to be redundant as the computers would act as a virtual WSO and those flying the F-22 would already have extensive flying experience on other fighters who had 2 seat variants (F-15/16) as the F-22 is the top end of the USAF fleet. However the Thunder is the low end of the PAF fleet and new pilots from their trainer a/c will go straight onto the Thunder. Simulators can do a lot but not everything, just seems like a rather silly way of saving money- all other 4/4.5 gen a/c have 2 seat trainer variants that are also very useful for strike missions.
Pay attention to those bold lines. Why do you assume JF-17 pilots are rookie and they are not from F-16, F-7pg or Mirage squadrons with considerable flying experience or pilots would not be trained on dual seater F-16 before flying JF-17? That's what F-22 does verbatim
You are wrong about F-22 pilots being seasoned. Initially they were, but in recent years, they are picking pilots directly after they pass out from academy. Last or year before, two pilots who were the brightest bunch to pass from academy were directly assigned to F-22 raptors.
January 28, 2008 (by Jonas Hogg) -
Opportunities to train on the F-22 Raptor are highly competitive, and pilots picked to fly the world's premier fighter have been chosen from the ranks after logging years on other airframes -- until now.
Four first lieutenants currently at Luke Air Force Base, Ariz., have been selected as the first "green" Raptor pilots. First lieutenants Austin Skelley, Ryan Shelhorse, Marcus McGinn and Dan Dickinson already have learned fighter fundamentals at Randolph AFB, Texas, and are undergoing further, advanced flight training in two-seat F-16 Fighting Falcons at Luke.
The four that are currently at Luke are going to be what we call an SGTO, Small Group Tryout," Colonel Krumm said. "We're really going to take a good hard look at what the course is and how they respond and how they perform during the time that they're here. We think we've probably got a 95-percent solution. But we know there's probably some things we need to tweak and correct."
The four pilot trainees are undergoing the Raptor Lead-in Course at Luke, where they will familiarize themselves with the F-16. The F-16, like the F-22, has the main control on the pilot's right-hand side as opposed to between the legs as in the F-15. The pilots are learning fighter basics such as air-to-air refueling, night flying and high gravity maneuvers and responses.
"(There is) a lot of experience here from a fighter perspective and an intelligence perspective that's very transferable to the F-22," said Brig. Gen. Noel T. Jones, the 56th Fighter Wing commander.
Eight F-16 flights will be completed during the lead-in course before the students leave for Tyndall.
As the first F-22 basic course, the group will help take an important step toward Air Force-wide integration of the Raptor. In addition to the training squadron at Tyndall, there are only three active F-22 squadrons: the 27th and 94th at Langley AFB, Va., and the 90th at Elmendorf AFB, Alaska.
Tyndall squadron prepares for 'pipeline' Raptor pilots
HOLLOMAN AIR FORCE BASE, N.M., July 30, 2013 – After three years of rigorous training, 25-year-old Air Force 1st Lt. Andrew Van Timmeren, a pilot with the 7th Fighter Squadron here, finally got to climb into the cockpit of an F-22 Raptor -- the world’s most advanced fighter jet -- and take it for a spin.
Air Force 1st Lt. Stephen Renner, another 7th Fighter Squadron pilot, said that when he walked out to an F-22 for the first time, he had to do a “gut check.”
“I knew I was prepared because of my amazing training, but I did feel anxious to fly the F-22 on my own the first time,” he said.
Renner graduated from the Air Force Academy with a degree in astronautical engineering in 2010. The Piedmont, Calif., native said he has wanted to be a pilot for as long as he can remember.
“It has been a long road, but entirely worth it,” he said. “Flying the F-22 is a far-fetched dream come true.”
Van Timmeren and Renner both graduated at the top of their undergraduate pilot training classes. “We were pretty lucky to get F-22 drops, because it doesn’t happen often,” Renner said.
Both lieutenants have spent the past three years enduring the Air Force’s intense pilot training program, which includes hundreds of hours of simulator and training aircraft flying, water survival, austere land survival, and medical evaluations.
The training also includes three flights in an F-16 Fighting Falcon to prove could the pilots can withstand 9 G’s of gravitational force, land a fighter aircraft and complete aerial refueling, Van Timmeren said.
“Flying is a bug I was born with,” he added. “I was just blessed to be able to realize it, and to chase my dream.
Defense.gov News Article: Face of Defense: Pilots’ ‘Pipe Dream’ Comes True in F-22 Cockpit