"Right, 2nd Lt. Jacob [LAST NAME DELETED BY BATTLELAND] and, left, Scott [LAST NAME DELETED BY BATTLELAND] pose in front of an RQ-4 Global Hawk at the Beale AFB, Calif., flight line" -- Air Force photo by Senior Airman Shawn Nickel
First-Name Basis Only: The U.S. Chair Force -- Time
The Air Force has its first two Global Hawk drone pilots groomed from the ground up to fly drones, without ever having flown “real” airplanes first. It’s a new career field for the Air Force, and these guys are the first RQ-4 “pilots” in the 18X field – signifying drone operators without prior flying experience.
It’s an important step for the service: it shows that it is embracing the move to unmanned aircraft. Many military types had expressed concern that the Air Force would have to be dragged kicking and screaming into the ground-based cubicle cockpits occupied by grounded drone pilots. But as the number of remotely-piloted aircraft – and the operators needed to fly them – begin to eclipse their manned counterparts, that concern no longer appears justified.
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My Comment: A strange situation .... drone pilots who have never flown an aircraft. But with the demand now exceeding the supply of available pilots .... I expect this trend to increase even further as America`s drone fleet grows.
1 comment:
There is no need for a drone pilot to have been aboard a plane, as there is no need for an old school plane pilot to have navigated a drone.
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