 The pilot sat in an open cockpit while the observer's cockpit was part-enclosed to protect him from the environment.The Aichi design was evaluated against competing aircraft from Kawanishi, the E8K, a low-winged monoplane similar to the Aichi AM-7, and Nakajima, the biplane E8N.While the E8A had similar performance to the E8N, the Nakajima biplane had superior manoevrability and handling, and was preferred to both the Nakajima and Kawanishi offerings, with over 700 E8Ns built.