Tag Archives: UAV

GAO Tells AF to Improve Drone Operator Morale

A congressionally-requested Government Accounting Office report on the US Air Force drone community was recently publicized:

Senate leaders in Sept. 2012 asked the GAO to study the Air Force’s approach to managing the remotely piloted aircraft crews, which has tripled since 2008…

The intent was to analyze how the drone community is being managed and treated, in the face of rumors of low morale, low promotion rates, and underappreciated warfighters.  The GAO created and interviewed focus groups, concluding:  Read more

USAFA: Cadet Pilot Volunteers also UAV Volunteers

The Air Force Academy published a release saying they have “typically” filled their pilot slots, but they had trouble filling non-pilot rated career fields — CSOs, ABMs, and UAVs. The issue is that all rated career fields are volunteer only. Many cadets would volunteer only for a pilot slot, and the others were going unfilled.

USAFA’s solution? If you volunteer for a pilot slot, you’re volunteering for any rated field — including UAVs:

“They cannot volunteer for just one. By volunteering Read more

Mike Farrell Gets Standing Ovation at USAFA

Of the dozens of speakers who addressed the National Character and Leadership Symposium at the US Air Force Academy last week, the local Colorado Springs Gazette highlighted just one: former MASH star Mike Farrell (previously discussed).

Actor and activist Mike Farrell said he gave his usual, well-honed speech.

He focused on human dignity, derided the death penalty and the Iraq war, and described American tactics against alleged terrorists as “drone murder.”

…the audience that gave him a standing ovation…  Read more

Air Force Selects 100+ in Latest Flying Board

The Air Force announced it had selected more than 100 Captains and Lieutenants in its latest flying training board.

The UFT annual selection board convened in January to consider active-duty candidates for the program. Those selected will attend pilot, remotely-piloted aircraft, combat systems officer or air battle manager training…

These are active duty officers attempting to change career fields to aviation. Given historical precedence, about half of the selectees were probably pilots, with the other half spread among the other rated career fields.

The Air Force has generally held two Read more

Air Force Worried Pilots May Exit

According to Gordon Lubold, writing at Foreign Policy and repeated at the Stars and Stripes, the US Air Force is concerned about the “possible exodus” of military pilots to an ever-enticing private sector:

Over the next year, the commercial airline industry is going to begin hiring tens of thousands of new pilots as aging flyers retire and the industry regains its economic footing. That could put dark clouds in the way of the Air Force’s wild blue yonder as it tries to persuade pilots to stay in a service even as top officials worry that pilots don’t have enough yoke time.

“If pilots aren’t flying in the Air Force because Read more

USAFA Seniors Learn their Fates

Cadets in the US Air Force Academy Class of 2014 were notified of their career fields on Wednesday.

Most notably, of the 1,011 cadets, 456 were selected to become pilots. (That’s 45% for those who grimace at math in public, which is slightly less than 2011.)  41 will become “cyberspace operators,” and 9 will go on to RPAs (and 4 will become “special agents” for OSI). From the official release, the rest of the list follows:  Read more

Test Pilot First “Passenger” in Single-Seat QF-16

Boeing Test Pilot Jason Clements recently announced to his “fellow Viper drivers” that the beginning of an era is at hand — and the F-16 community will soon see their planes take to the air without pilots.

Clements is part of a team that has been converting F-16s to QF-16s, or pilotless drones.  He recently rode in the cockpit as a passenger for the entire sortie, never once touching the controls.

The QF-4 has long filled this role — so long, in fact, they need to be replaced.  This will apparently be the first time the US Air Force has turned an aircraft into drones while it was still fielded operationally.  In other words, it is conceivable that an F-16 pilot will get to shoot down a QF-16 — a feat heretofore unheard of.

The first “no pilot” QF-16 sortie is scheduled for Friday the 13th, next week.

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