UAVs for UPT Grads

[Flash]

well, to be honest, I didn't read the article. But the buddy of mine who was facing the UAV bullet (Viper driver) explained that once you went down that road you were gone forever from the cockpit - with only a few rare exceptions. I guess it isn't as bad a deal as it could be.

FWIW - That is the same info my friends in blue told me as well. That to them was the worst part. It's one thing to have a 'raw deal' tour in your career (I'm sure most of the guys on this board have been there/done that), it would suck though to catch one and be stuck with it for good.

Not from what I have seen first hand. Maybe Hacker or another actual USAF pilot can give us better info.

 

[MIDNJAC]

To take what was said previously a little further, why wouldn't they just open up a separate pool for UAV-pilot wannabes? There are plenty of guys/ladies out there who have been NPQ'd from pilot and nav programs who obviously still have the desire to fly. Would it be that unreasonable to assign these folks to the UAV program if they were otherwise strong candidates? Seems to me like a pretty logical solution, although of course some limit would need to be placed on the physical standards even for a UAV pilot I would assume.

 

[HooverPilot]

To take what was said previously a little further, why wouldn't they just open up a separate pool for UAV-pilot wannabes? There are plenty of guys/ladies out there who have been NPQ'd from pilot and nav programs who obviously still have the desire to fly. Would it be that unreasonable to assign these folks to the UAV program if they were otherwise strong candidates? Seems to me like a pretty logical solution, although of course some limit would need to be placed on the physical standards even for a UAV pilot I would assume.

the biggest problem with using people who lose their medical, are NPQ'ed or drop from flight school is that in the US, a UAV pilot MUST, by agreement between the FAA & the Military, be a rated pilot for the class airspace operated in. To have in CONUS and OCONUS pilots would be a self defeating proposition.

I think it is just going to be a reality of the times that pilots will eventually split between tours of in an actual airplane, and playing on a nintendo. It has been said for some time that we will all eventually be replaced by UAV's, and a part of that prophecy seems to have snuck up on us.

I will caveat the above with this, I do not think that any pax capable aircraft will be remotely operated for some time. The public & technology isn't ready for it...

 

[bunk22]

A good friend of mine, prior Navy CH-46 and C-26 driver switched to AF. He had to do 3 years UAV then go either C-5 or C-17. At the end of his 3 years UAV driving, they offered him C-17's, just like they said. He turned it down, likes the good life in Vegas.

 

[mb1k]

Ok... time for someone in the Air Force to actually weigh in. I know, personally (not a friend of a cousin who knows a twin to saw a girl who dated a lesbian transgender who watched a special on Dateline about UAV pilots), 3 guys that went UAV. 2 of them finished up their time and went back to flying real jets. One even got cross flowed from KC-135s to Buffs. The third is stuck. But that was more of a function of timing. He got passed over for LtCol, so when he went UAV, he didn't have an A-10 seat waiting for him on the backside.

Myself. I was offered the same drug-deal. Go to Nellis (back in the day) and fly UAVs with a guaranteed follow-on. But no cross flow to another weapon system for me. So there was no incentive to do it. Meaning for a guys like me who's community only consist of one duty station and 16 jets, I couldn't even campaign for preferable locality or anything. It was like telling an E-6 guy he can write his own orders to any E-6 base after doing UAVs. Duh... it's only Tinker.

 

[HuggyU2]

This is a short term solution. The USAF has been working to figure out how to implement the "UAS pilot" career path, separate from a traditional "pilot" career path. I don't know what happened in the last 2 years to slow this down: it was supposed to have happened already.
I'm guessing Secretary Gates' influence is a big push to relook at the whole thing.

We had a guy in the U-2 whose background was (in order): B-52, Predator, Prowler, U-2. The U-2 community hasn't had anyone go to the Pred/Reaper, but that's not surprising, seeing as The Program attracts pilots that like to fly an odd aircraft.