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Drone Pilot Shortage worries US officials- article

cupper said:
Take off and landings skills come into play.

But the most important skills are looking cool in aviator sunglasses and proper wear of the flight suit and leather jacket. >:D

Actually a lot of the larger RPAs have, or will have, automatic takeoff and landing systems based on DGPS and other sensors.  Certainly the IAI Heron and its variants do. 

But yes, I agree with the second point.  If folks in HQs can wear flying suits, there is no reason why RPA crews can't.  :nod:
 
US operators wear flight suits and I think their chairs have cup holders and unlike their rated comrades they can get up from their station and go to the head. ;D
 
tomahawk6 said:
US operators wear flight suits and I think their chairs have cup holders and unlike their rated comrades they can get up from their station and go to the head. ;D

Hell, they can go home and go to bed in the middle of a mission. >:D

So, if you strapped a Royal Marine to an outboard weapons pylon, would it still be considered unmanned? ;D
 
Dimsum said:
If RPAs will be sharing the circuit and terminal airspace with Private aircraft and airliners, shouldn't the RPA Pilots at least have the level of knowledge/experience as the guy in the Cessna 172 buzzing around?

So you're not setting the bar very high then. ;D
 
cupper said:
Take off and landings skills come into play.

Those are generally done autonomously.

We did one night-time manual recovery of a Sperwer early during my tour, and that was ... interesting.

We'd only been airborne for a short time, when I noticed that the AV symbol had stopped moving on the monitor. All that we knew at that point was last-known heading and altitude, which had not changed. As we had no really good idea how long it had been like that, that information was rather useless.

We were not yet familiar enough with local features, and much looked the same (and very grainy), so we could not even begin to guess where we were. Not knowing where one is does not make finding where one wants to be very easy. Once we'd found KAF again (Thank f***), only due to brilliant co-ordination between my Payload Operator and Aerial Vehicle Operators and some very good luck, we then had to set up for a manual recovery. As this was done by parachute, requiring pretty accurate altitude, speed, and heading for several kilometres, and our system was not giving us either, we could only go by what ATC was giving us, and that was not precise enough. Darkness was not our friend during this, but it also meant that there was almost no other traffic around for us to hit, especially when we somehow ended up on the wrong side of the runway on the second, third, or perhaps fourth attempt.

My guys managed to bring it down almost completely inside the recovery area. Part of the machine, however, was in an old Soviet minefield.

We had not ever trained to carry out a manual recovery. There was too much risk to doing so. There was no means of simulating one.

There is no peripheral or binocular vision, sound, or feel when flying one of these things - none of the senses and references that we are used to having in a manned aircraft. Operating Sperwer was a challenge, and there were plenty of surprises, few of which were pleasant.

Reaper/Predator crews, then, at least, were fighter pilots with extensive air-to-ground experience. They had the tactical knowledge to enable them to get the most out of their machines, and were accustomed to having to know their machines thoroughly and think quickly when something happened that was not covered in the emergencies section of the checklist - and we had plenty of the latter, as well.

And they had much comfier seats, reliable air conditioning, and way more monitors than we had.

While we were not armed, we worked with armed Helicopters, armed seized-wing aircraft, and Artillery. We had the authority to shut down any attack if we were unsure of the validity of the target or uncomfortable with its surroundings at any time. That, as much as pressing an attack, even when everything seems proper, is not easy, and we were very careful to get it right.

A KOHS should not have to bear that responsibility.

Oh, and we had to wear CADPAT AR combat clothing like the rest of the peasantry. Those Heron wankers, when they showed up, however...
 
Loachman said:
Oh, and we had to wear CADPAT AR combat clothing like the rest of the peasantry. Those Heron wankers, when they showed up, however...

Yeah, that was one rotation (and not mine).  That changed right quick.  Of course some were miffed that as aircrew, we weren't wearing flying suits but those complaints generally went away as the summer wore on.  :nod:
 
James and Welsh (Sec of the AF and USAF Chief of Staff): 'No doubt' enlisted airmen could be drone pilots

Welsh and James said that the Air Force is wrestling with the potential pitfalls of having enlisted pilots on the Air Force's organizational structure, such as conflicts regarding supervision and the fact that an enlisted drone pilot would be paid less than an officer doing the same job. Some of those difficulties caused the Air Force to scrap its enlisted flying corps in the past, Welsh said, so the Air Force is considering holding a beta test to do "due diligence."

Welsh said the Air Force is considering enlisted drone pilots to help satisfy the growing need for the intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capability that drones help provide. But while those needs are growing, tight budgets are limiting how much the Air Force can grow its officer ranks.

...or, bring back USAF Warrant Officers, which are technical specialists that won't compete with Officer command postings.

http://www.airforcetimes.com/story/military/afa/2015/09/15/james-and-welsh-no-doubt-enlisted-airmen-could-be-drone-pilots/72328234/
 
Warrants would be a good solution,but one that the USAF wont pursue.They will want to use aircrew to operate UAV's as there will be fewer planes for them to fly.
 
tomahawk6 said:
Warrants would be a good solution,but one that the USAF wont pursue.They will want to use aircrew to operate UAV's as there will be fewer planes for them to fly.

Fair, but I meant aircrew Warrants like the US Army.  Or commission (warrant?) those "enlisted" folks into some RPA Warrant Officer stream.  Problem solved.
 
I know what you meant,but its not USAF culture.They discontinued their Warrant program in 1959.
 
Necropost but the USAF is starting their Enlisted RPA Pilot program on the RQ-4 Global Hawk soon. 

The Air Force recently selected the first 10 enlisted Airmen to attend RQ-4 Global Hawk pilot training, marking the first time since World War II enlisted Airmen will be behind the stick.

The first combined enlisted and officer training course will begin October 2016, with the first enlisted Airmen expected to graduate in 2017.....

Enlisted pilots will undergo the same rigorous Air Force training as current RPA pilots with respect to flight training, rules, and responsibilities.

The new enlisted pilots will begin their Undergraduate RPA Training with the RPA Initial Flight Training where they will learn to fly a DA-20 Falcon. From there they will attend RPA Instrument Qualification and Fundamentals Courses before finishing with Global Hawk Basic Qualification Training. At the conclusion of this training they will be rated, instrument qualified pilots who are Federal Aviation Administration certified to fly the RQ-4 in national and international airspace and mission qualified to execute the high altitude ISR mission.

From the article, it looks like they will be re-treads from Staff Sgt and above who are already aircrew.

http://www.af.mil/News/ArticleDisplay/tabid/223/Article/828066/af-selects-first-enlisted-airmen-for-global-hawk-pilot-training.aspx
 
The problem is pay.I think any kid out of high school could fly a drone its too much like a video game.A USAF Staff Sergeant is an E-5 with base pay of $2200 a month plus allowances for food and housing.Is that going to attract the talent ? If the Army,Navy or Marines ran the program Warrant Officers could be used.A WO1 has a base pay of $3000 plus benefits.The real money goes to a commissioned officer which is where USAF culture is.

http://www.military.com/daily-news/2015/04/07/air-force-details-bonuses-for-fighter-drone-pilots.html

The Air Force has announced bonuses for select fighter and drone pilots.
The categories of pilots eligible for the bonus – which go as high as $225,000, with half of it paid up front in a lump sum – include 11F fighter pilots, 11U remotely piloted aircraft pilots and 11X pilots who agree to move into the 11U specialty for their entire career.
Some "uncommitted" manned aircraft pilots and those who have switched to becoming drone pilots could see lower bonuses, according to a report in Air Force Times.
These include pilots whose undergraduate flying training active-duty service commitment expired before fiscal 2015, or those who completed 11 years of aviation service by then. These pilots are eligible for a $15,000 a year bonus for each year they extend their contracts. The extensions could be for five years, or until they hit the 20-year mark, up to nine years.

Now the USAF is hiring civilian contractors to be drone pilots. :D

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-fg-drone-contractor-20151127-story.html
 
A bit of a sensationalist headline (there are definitely worse jobs than RPA crews, but tell that to manned aircraft Pilots) but the lack of training and quals is a bit scary.

...The U.S. Army and the Air Force both need a lot of pilots and technicians to keep the drones flying — literally tens of thousands of people altogether — but it hasn’t been easy filling those job slots. Worse, the two branches started cutting corners during training, according to the Government Accountability Office, or GAO, a congressionally-mandated watchdog.

Often, the Army wasn’t even sure if its pilots were qualified to fly drones. On top of that, it was approving new flight instructors who haven’t finished their own training.

There’s a lot of reasons for the shortage of good pilots. The most obvious is budget cutbacks across the military.

To get around the forced cuts, known as “sequestration,” the Pentagon has employed some tricky accounting to keep the cash flowing to its pet projects — such as the F-35 Lightning II. Personnel levels have also fallen across all branches.

But the less obvious answer is that no one wants to pilot drones. It’s an awful job where a pilot — instead of sitting in a cockpit — sits inside a metal box in front of a computer screen for hours. Drone pilots are overworked, over-stressed and pissed off.

No wonder the Pentagon can’t find good pilots...

https://warisboring.com/piloting-drones-is-the-worst-job-in-the-military-8492289d8b8d#.gft53ywym
 
Dimsum said:
Necropost but the USAF is starting their Enlisted RPA Pilot program on the RQ-4 Global Hawk soon. 

From the article, it looks like they will be re-treads from Staff Sgt and above who are already aircrew.

http://www.af.mil/News/ArticleDisplay/tabid/223/Article/828066/af-selects-first-enlisted-airmen-for-global-hawk-pilot-training.aspx

Update:  They've graduated.

https://www.airforcetimes.com/articles/first-enlisted-rpa-pilots-graduate
 
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