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Posted: 2/14/2013 4:09:56 PM EDT
[#1]
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Drink the fucking bottle man, there's nothing else to do.. Love the Dos Gringos... Aviator So do I :) I bought all their CDs since the first one came out 'Cause I'm the motherfucker who stated World War III 
You can download their stuff from iTunes. |
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Posted: 2/14/2013 4:09:58 PM EDT
[#2]
Great story
Hey man they got Wings to!!! 
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Posted: 2/14/2013 4:10:03 PM EDT
[#3]
Are the UAV pilots officers or enlisted?
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Posted: 2/14/2013 4:10:14 PM EDT
[#4]
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Posted: 2/14/2013 4:10:17 PM EDT
[#5]
Quoted: I was invited to take a tour of the UAV area several years ago in Balad Iraq, after pulling my fourth crashed Pedator out of the desert. I was caught up on why they wore flightsuits. I even asked if they were Nomex, which started to piss them off. Like the booth would burst into flames if the UAV went down. They finally kicked me out, when I asked if I would look funny wearing a spacesuit while watching a shuttle launch on TV. lol...nice. |
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Posted: 2/14/2013 4:10:38 PM EDT
[#6]
Aviator, I was a pilot in the 176th when the unit was at Kulis during the 80s. How can a UAV operator with a straight face call himself a pilot. Glad I got out years ago.
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Posted: 2/14/2013 4:13:27 PM EDT
[#7]
Quoted:
Quoted:
As a controller, I'm very surprised the UAV wasn't made #2 behind a manned aircraft. Makes me scratch my head. Those Air Force guys are always declaring "Emergency". Such as the dreaded C-130 3 engine landing. Aviator That's nothing. Try the dreaded B-52 7 engine landing!
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Posted: 2/14/2013 4:15:52 PM EDT
[#8]
Don't make fun of these guys, someday this specialty will be the "Top Guns". You think his ego was bad, wait till they start flying fighter aircraft.
Trust me, its coming. DoD would love to never have to worry about another Scott O'Grady incident. Or lose multiple helo's in a rescue attempt like Vietnam. |
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Posted: 2/14/2013 4:19:26 PM EDT
[#9]
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You should see at Ellington Field in Houston where they fly UAVs out of... they have a pilot's lounge and everything for the pilots. - AG It just won't be the same at the O'Club without the whole two hand demonstration of how they shot down their watch. Don't knock it, watches are fucking tough to shoot down. They are sneaky little shits. |
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Posted: 2/14/2013 4:19:52 PM EDT
[#10]
I know the MX guys you were talking to.
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Posted: 2/14/2013 4:20:39 PM EDT
[#11]
Quoted:
I was invited to take a tour of the UAV area several years ago in Balad Iraq, after pulling my fourth crashed Pedator out of the desert. I was caught up on why they wore flightsuits. I even asked if they were Nomex, which started to piss them off. Like the booth would burst into flames if the UAV went down. They finally kicked me out, when I asked if I would look funny wearing a spacesuit while watching a shuttle launch on TV. 
Really though, if you have wings in the AF, and you work in the pentagon 4 floors below sea level you still wear a flight suit to work. It is the standard uniform. Not like the navy that only wears the bag when flying. |
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Posted: 2/14/2013 4:20:50 PM EDT
[#12]
Quoted:
Quoted:
As a controller, I'm very surprised the UAV wasn't made #2 behind a manned aircraft. Makes me scratch my head. Those Air Force guys are always declaring "Emergency". Such as the dreaded C-130 3 engine landing. Aviator As a former P-3 type. I can remember having a conversation with a couple C-130 types. One asked me if it was true we shut down an engine intentionally, for hours at a time way out in the ocean. I said yea, and depending on how far from a landing strip and our weight, we sometime loiter a second one. The look I got from them was priceless. Inconceivable to them. |
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Posted: 2/14/2013 4:22:22 PM EDT
[#13]
Quoted:
Quoted:
As a controller, I'm very surprised the UAV wasn't made #2 behind a manned aircraft. Makes me scratch my head. Those Air Force guys are always declaring "Emergency". Such as the dreaded C-130 3 engine landing. Aviator I kept thinking about the dreaded 7 engine approach. |
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Posted: 2/14/2013 4:23:34 PM EDT
[#14]
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Did any of the Pilots (can't help hit to laugh at that) have the new UAV medal? I agree with the whole medal BS, but I wouldn't be so quick to put them down as pilots. I think there are quite a few who are previous fliers. I knew an F-15 pilot in Japan who went over to the UAV program. Not sure why he'd want to give up that awesome bird for an RC, but he did. They're not all total bums. |
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Posted: 2/14/2013 4:24:22 PM EDT
[#15]
He kind of covers what everything does, then shows us his "invention" he was obviously very proud of. It was a 3 foot long 1/4 inch wooden dowel with an eraser glued to the end. He used it to hit switches in the center area, so he did not have to lean over, or get up.
When I was an O/C at JRTC, I rigged 550 cord around the HMMWV cabin so I could crank the engine on while remaining in fartsack defilade. Heater was turned to max with 5 feet of heater vent hose running straight into my sleeping bag. Worked VERY well on cold nights. |
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Posted: 2/14/2013 6:45:40 PM EDT
[#16]
Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: As a controller, I'm very surprised the UAV wasn't made #2 behind a manned aircraft. Makes me scratch my head. Those Air Force guys are always declaring "Emergency". Such as the dreaded C-130 3 engine landing. Aviator As a former P-3 type. I can remember having a conversation with a couple C-130 types. One asked me if it was true we shut down an engine intentionally, for hours at a time way out in the ocean. I said yea, and depending on how far from a landing strip and our weight, we sometime loiter a second one. The look I got from them was priceless. Inconceivable to them. Yet when ever the VP bird would return with only 3 running NATOPS made you guys declare to. lol, ask me how I know...  |
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Posted: 2/14/2013 7:28:43 PM EDT
[#17]
The Sherpa may be a good plane but living in a shitty hadji tent behind a line of Sherpas fucking sucks. I'm still wiping sand out of my asscrack 9 years later.
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Posted: 2/14/2013 7:35:43 PM EDT
[#18]
Pussy didn't even shoot a coupled ILS approach?
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Posted: 2/14/2013 7:42:19 PM EDT
[#19]
I had no idea the c23 airframe even existed. I like it.
Go Army. |
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Posted: 2/14/2013 7:48:40 PM EDT
[#20]
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Sherpa must be slow if that storm caught you. They pretty much suck. We were supposed to get C 27s to replace them till the AF jacked them from us.. https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQ-Swsf4WfRZdPICZ-MGvJdFr7A_ERk-MbCpHQ6XIaqFX3Oki4u https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQpZJT5WLbjt7ouPK_mlTcFCWrA20mN4nZj0xvs-E80YoK8M8qb Aviator You fly those? You have my condolences. I spent some miserable flights on those back in the 1980s when there was a commuter airline that flew the Shorts between LaGuardia and Binghamton, NY when I was doing lots of TDY there. Gave meaning to the phrase "taking it in the Shorts". |
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Posted: 2/14/2013 7:52:53 PM EDT
[#21]
Penguins.
They have wings, but don't fly.
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Posted: 2/14/2013 7:53:49 PM EDT
[#22]
My cousin may/may not have been operating pilotless aircraft, maybe for a certain branch of the Australian military, possibly in a sandy country. He was laid back about it. Basically said he wore the flight suit because it was like wearing pajamas all day. He worked out of converted air conditioned shipping containers that had been connected to each other. He had fun. He's training to be a helo pilot, so it's not like he was super pumped up about staring at computer screens all day |
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Posted: 2/14/2013 7:56:37 PM EDT
[#23]
Those things don't look like they have big enough wings to get off the ground to me.
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Posted: 2/14/2013 8:13:45 PM EDT
[#24]
Pilots are officers, sensor operators are enlisted. My understanding is that there are one of each working the plane at any given time.
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Posted: 2/14/2013 9:17:22 PM EDT
[#25]
Quoted:
There's been a bunch of studies done on the UAV guys sitting in the trailers ref stress. As far as I understand it they experience very similar physiological signs as a live flight and consider the bird "their" aircraft. Heart rate jumps through the roof when there's problems, etc... Remember they now have an ascot, at least the USAF drivers do. and didn't they just issue some type of unmanned medal the other day? How's the cabin? I'm pretty sure my heart rate climbed playing DEFENDER and PAC-MAN at the 7/11 back in the late 70's. (For those of you too young, it was a convenience store and they typically had a little room with a pinball machine or two and a video game or two, never more than three machines in total.) |
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Posted: 2/14/2013 9:38:11 PM EDT
[#26]
Quoted:
I'd paint mine like this. Beautiful, just beautiful! http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/3465/sherpaq.jpg It looks like a dog squatting to take a dump |
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Posted: 2/14/2013 9:44:19 PM EDT
[#27]
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Posted: 2/14/2013 9:47:22 PM EDT
[#28]
Quoted:
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As a controller, I'm very surprised the UAV wasn't made #2 behind a manned aircraft. Makes me scratch my head. Those Air Force guys are always declaring "Emergency". Such as the dreaded C-130 3 engine landing. Aviator yeah, the #1, #2, #3, or #4 T.I.T. on a 130 would come up as hot, so they would shut down that engine. typically, so they declare an IFE (rolls eyes) there is some redundancy built in...I can't remember which but it is something like the #3 engine powers up the hydraulics for the left side of the plane, and like the #2 engine powers up the hydraulics for the right side of the plane....something like that. If you lose both inboard engines you end up with no hydraulics, but that's been almost twenty years ago. we had a 130 call in from some cross country flight and said he was like Code 2 or Alpha 2 for the "synchro phaser" . I thought the guy was pulling my leg. I always wanted to try jumping out of a Casa: 
I got my jumps with this: 
A "twotter" or "twat-er" really weird with one knee on the floor, looking out and down and there's that landing gear tire. EDIT: the synchro phaser on a C-130 gets all the propellers lined up and I guess hitting the air all at the same time. the car version would be like have 4 square wheels. the aircrew made it sound like it was a real shitty ride back. either lots of noise or vibration or both. they sounded beat. |
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Posted: 2/14/2013 9:53:23 PM EDT
[#29]
Quoted:
You should see at Ellington Field in Houston where they fly UAVs out of... they have a pilot's lounge and everything for the pilots. - AG God damn! Student pilots have saltier stories than most of those guys! I'd rather fly a piper cub into battle. |
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Posted: 2/14/2013 10:02:29 PM EDT
[#30]
Quoted:
As a controller, I'm very surprised the UAV wasn't made #2 behind a manned aircraft. Makes me scratch my head. Reminds me of a joke. There is a new guy in the tower at an airfield. He's a bit nervous because he's got quite a bit of varied types of traffic that day. He gets a call from a F-16 saying he's got some high EGTs and vibrations and he would like immediate clearance to land. Well the new controller says "Hold at (suchandsuch), there is a B-52 coming in with an engine out". The Viper pilot responds "Ah, the dreaded 7 engine approach" 'Course that one could be true I suppose. Can't remember where I heard it. |
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Posted: 2/14/2013 10:03:33 PM EDT
[#31]
Quoted:
I was invited to take a tour of the UAV area several years ago in Balad Iraq, after pulling my fourth crashed Pedator out of the desert. I was caught up on why they wore flightsuits. I even asked if they were Nomex, which started to piss them off. Like the booth would burst into flames if the UAV went down. They finally kicked me out, when I asked if I would look funny wearing a spacesuit while watching a shuttle launch on TV. If they had any sense they would say "because bags are comfortable and they let us get away with it!" |
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Posted: 2/14/2013 10:05:10 PM EDT
[#32]
Quoted:
Just wait til you see his medals. Nice.
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Posted: 2/15/2013 3:50:29 AM EDT
[#33]
Quoted:
I was invited to take a tour of the UAV area several years ago in Balad Iraq, after pulling my fourth crashed Pedator out of the desert. I was caught up on why they wore flightsuits. I even asked if they were Nomex, which started to piss them off. Like the booth would burst into flames if the UAV went down. They finally kicked me out, when I asked if I would look funny wearing a spacesuit while watching a shuttle launch on TV. There was a whole AVN BN TF worth of "real" UH-60, OH-58, AH-64 and CH-47 pilots living on Bagram and you'd never really know it. When the UAV guys showed up, everyone knew it: Nomex, green cotton T-shirts (tan was issue), giant AIRCREWS SLEEPING crew rest and DO NOT DISTURB w/o permission of some 3-Star somewhere signs all over their B-Huts, yadda, yadda, yadda. Don't even get me started on what a PITA they are during missions. |
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Posted: 2/15/2013 3:58:30 AM EDT
[#34]
I look forward to the day when all combat aircraft are flown remotely.
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Posted: 2/15/2013 4:02:36 AM EDT
[#35]
Quoted:
Laugh it up. You know how bad a smashed finger hurts? I got a paper cut from a file today. That shit ain't no joke! Yeah, but YOU can bill for it!
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Posted: 2/15/2013 4:03:12 AM EDT
[#36]
Calling them pilots and them wearing flight suits
 Kind of like the fuelers in our motorpool wearing flight suits. Doesn't make any damn sense to me. I work on the aircraft all the time but I'm not on flight status so I DON'T wear a flight suit. Why would people that don't even TOUCH an aircraft wear a flight suit?? 
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Posted: 2/15/2013 4:05:05 AM EDT
[#37]
No shit, there I was... in the shit...
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Posted: 2/15/2013 4:06:13 AM EDT
[#38]
Quoted:
I was caught up on why they wore flightsuits. I even asked if they were Nomex, which started to piss them off. Like the booth would burst into flames if the UAV went down. It's the same contractor who makes the consoles for Starfleet. Every time they take hostile fire, consoles be exploding and shit. Dangerous. |
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Posted: 2/15/2013 4:06:54 AM EDT
[#39]
Quoted:
Calling them pilots and them wearing flight suits Kind of like the fuelers in our motorpool wearing flight suits. Doesn't make any damn sense to me. I work on the aircraft all the time but I'm not on flight status so I DON'T wear a flight suit. Why would people that don't even TOUCH an aircraft wear a flight suit?? I like to think of it as my "Onesie." I never really outgrew them when I was a kid. I usually don't go commando in them though. |
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Posted: 2/15/2013 4:55:40 AM EDT
[#40]
Quoted:
Quoted:
Man, you USAF guys had it rough over there. C-23 Sherpas are Army... Aviator Oh snap! 
You Aviation guys got it so rough.
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Posted: 2/15/2013 5:11:52 AM EDT
[#41]
Quoted:
Quoted:
I was caught up on why they wore flightsuits. I even asked if they were Nomex, which started to piss them off. Like the booth would burst into flames if the UAV went down. It's the same contractor who makes the consoles for Starfleet. Every time they take hostile fire, consoles be exploding and shit. Dangerous.
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Posted: 2/15/2013 5:33:56 AM EDT
[#42]
Semper Turpis
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Posted: 2/15/2013 5:39:49 AM EDT
[#43]
Quoted:
Aviator, I was a pilot in the 176th when the unit was at Kulis during the 80s. How can a UAV operator with a straight face call himself a pilot. Glad I got out years ago. Trust me, not only will they not let you forget it, they won't let you forget that they are the wave of the future. The era of manned aircraft is over. |
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Posted: 2/15/2013 5:45:22 AM EDT
[#44]
Quoted:
Don't make fun of these guys, someday this specialty will be the "Top Guns". You think his ego was bad, wait till they start flying fighter aircraft. Trust me, its coming. DoD would love to never have to worry about another Scott O'Grady incident. Or lose multiple helo's in a rescue attempt like Vietnam. There are 2 sets of UAV operators: one who flies the missions from where ever, the other who does the take-offs and landings and must therefore be located on the airfield where the UAV is landing. When the fighters go pilotless they will still take-off and land with a human operator, but the mission (fighting) will be done by onboard computers (AI)...so essentially all glory will be gone. |
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Posted: 2/15/2013 5:46:44 AM EDT
[#45]
and I wanted to be a Sensor Operator at one point due to my hearing I cannot be an aircrew member without a waiver. Darn unsuppressed guns!
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Posted: 2/15/2013 5:48:10 AM EDT
[#46]
Quoted:
Don't make fun of these guys, someday this specialty will be the "Top Guns". You think his ego was bad, wait till they start flying fighter aircraft. Trust me, its coming. DoD would love to never have to worry about another Scott O'Grady incident. Or lose multiple helo's in a rescue attempt like Vietnam. There are 2 sets of UAV operators: one who flies the missions from where ever, the other who does the take-offs and landings and must therefore be located on the airfield where the UAV is landing. When the fighters go pilotless they will still take-off and land with a human operator, but the mission (fighting) will be done by onboard computers (AI). There will be no UAV fighter pilot, just a UAV fighter taker-offer and lander...so essentially all glory will be gone. Remember those Bud Light commercials: "Thank you, Mr. Hawaiian shirt inventor! Without you...". "Thank you Mr. UAV taker-offer and lander! Without you, someone else would have to take-off and land the UAV...". 
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Posted: 2/15/2013 5:52:52 AM EDT
[#47]
Quoted: So, during my last deployment in Iraq, we had a night that weather was kinda iffy, but the mission we were scheduled to fly was pretty important. We briefed weather as a crew, and pilot pulled us outside. We knew it was shit, but he asked if he decided to go anyway, if any of us would be unhappy with the decision. We all said we would be happy to try and get the mission done. We took off (C-23 Sherpa with 2 pilots, 2 Flight Engineers), and got about 20 minutes into the flight, and a huge storm came up on the radar headed our way. We went to nearly 0 visibility and pretty bad turbulence. We at this point decided to turn back and try an beat the storm back to the airfield. As we got close in the storm caught up with us. We were held up by a Predator trying to land, and had to circle a few miles away while they got landed. At this point vis was complete shit and we had to do a semi-below minimums ILS to get down. Whole crew was sweating bullets. We landed and taxied into the ramp and shut down. As we were planning on being gone all night, and the the other FE and I had been sleeping all day, we decided to go mess around on the flight line with one of the Gators we used to haul run bags, water, and guns back and forth to the aircraft. We climbed on and went tooling around. The ramp next to ours was the Air Force UAV guys. We ended up over there, and sat and watched the Maint guys do a runup on a Predator. When they shut down we went over to talk to them. They gave us an overview of the thing, and we were asking questions about the engine, and airframe. At this point some 20ish looking AF Captain in a flight suit shows up and helps to answer out questions. Come to find out he was a UAV pilot. After about 20 minutes of show and tell, he asked Nate and I if we would like to see one of the control rooms. We said sure and off we went to his "Command Connex. It was nice. AC, two comfy chairs with a screen and keyboard in front of each, with a panel of switches in between. He kind of covers what everything does, then shows us his "invention" he was obviously very proud of. It was a 3 foot long 1/4 inch wooden dowel with an eraser glued to the end. He used it to hit switches in the center area, so he did not have to lean over, or get up. I looked at Nate, and he looked at me, kind of rolling his eyes. What happened next, was so hilarious, I had to try hard to keep from busting out laughing. He starts talking about the "mission" he had "Flown" that night. Told us how shitty the weather was, and said quote... "I had to shoot an ILS to get back in here. I was pretty sure a couple of times, I was not gonna make it! Nate and I just looked at each other in amazement. This guy was probably the dude who held our approach up with his Predator and caused us to land in even shittier conditions. And here he sat talking about "almost not making it". He then commenced to talking about how the week before, he had pinched his finger trying to adjust his seat height. By then, Nate and I were barely able to contain ourselves. We thanked him and walked back out to the Gator and headed back to our ramp. It was actually a very interesting hour or so, and we learned a lot. We also learned that at least some of the UAV pilots fit pretty well into the stereotype that a lot of people talk about. Aviator "Yes sir, we were there too. We were the ones waiting on you.." |
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Posted: 2/15/2013 5:55:19 AM EDT
[#48]
Quoted:
Quoted:
Don't make fun of these guys, someday this specialty will be the "Top Guns". You think his ego was bad, wait till they start flying fighter aircraft. Trust me, its coming. DoD would love to never have to worry about another Scott O'Grady incident. Or lose multiple helo's in a rescue attempt like Vietnam. There are 2 sets of UAV operators: one who flies the missions from where ever, the other who does the take-offs and landings and must therefore be located on the airfield where the UAV is landing. When the fighters go pilotless they will still take-off and land with a human operator, but the mission (fighting) will be done by onboard computers (AI). There will be no UAV fighter pilot, just a UAV fighter taker-offer and lander...so essentially all glory will be gone. Remember those Bud Light commercials: "Thank you, Mr. Hawaiian shirt inventor! Without you...". "Thank you Mr. UAV taker-offer and lander! Without you, someone else would have to take-off and land the UAV...". Guess what I do for a living...
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Posted: 2/15/2013 5:55:24 AM EDT
[#49]
Thanks for the funny story. Laughed pretty hard. They really are the 'chair force' eh?
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Posted: 2/15/2013 5:57:17 AM EDT
[#50]
Quoted:
Are the UAV pilots officers or enlisted? Army operators are enlisted
Airforce - not so much |
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