Air Force Strains to Meet the Demand for Drones in Afghanistan
Increased fighting calls for more unmanned aerial vehicles and the pilots who fly them remotely
Reader Comments
DRONE CRASHES
READ THIS AND FIRST THOUGHT "PILOT ERROR"???????HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN? WOULD SURE LIKE TO HEAR AN EXPLANATION.WHATEVER, PUT IT ALL BEHIND YOU AND GET MOVING ON TRAINING MORE "OPERATORS"...OUR TROOP DEPEND ON YOU!!!
former pilot ww11
LORD KNOWS I AM TOO OLD TO FLY (ONLY 85)BUT TO HAVE A SHORTAGE OF "PILOTS" TO FLY THE DRONES SEEMS ABSURD. I HONESTLY THINK THAT "GAMERS" RETRAINED OR PILOTS THAT STILL "HAVE IT" WOULD RESPOND IN A HEARTBEAT,,,SO GET GOING AND USE WHAT YOU HAVE AND LETS SAVE MANY OF OUR COMBAT TROOPS!
Misconception
Those who think it is just a video are are Sooooo wrong, it is serious killing from Nevada, it is not pretty, it is taxing, it is hard work for long months and years. It is, however rewarding, but they all prefer flying (real) aircraft.
Retired Pilots to help give the active troops some time off!
I second Hank Hoffman's comment - as a retired USAF Pilot, but still in the workforce, I'd be delighted to take a sabbatical from my civilian job, take a month or two to get qualified as a UAV Pilot, and rotate in a couple of days a month to fly the UAV's. I bet a lot of us would - no G's to pull, just good judgement and flying experience, with some current training on the new equipment.
Fred Wagner
Capt retired
We are "training" millions of kids on video games, and they can't find anyone to stay on the ground and "fly" a UAV? This may indeed be an urgent reality in the moment, but from the perspective of "long term" and a "big picture", this is one of the nuttiest problems we could imagine. Get those simulator gadgets rolling, for heavens sake. You don't even need a real pilot. You need quick "gamers" retrained.
DRONES
MAKE THIS A CAREER WITH GOOD BENE,S AND GET THE GOOD PEEPS TRAINED IN
