The US military announced that pilot error was to blame for the loss of a pilot-less UAV in Afghanistan.

After an inflight-change of mission crew for an MQ-1 Predator, the new pilot

realized the elevation around the aircraft exceeded its altitude…

That’s kind of like realizing your keys are still in the ignition after your locked car door slams shut.  Only worse.  The good news, in one respect, is this controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) didn’t claim a life.  On the other hand, it highlights a weakness of the current generation of UAVs:  a significantly reduced situational awareness on the part of the operators.

After all, they can’t just look out the window to determine how high off the ground they are.  In addition, some UAV operators were never pilots, which means their ability to think in three dimensions, particularly in the absence of any visual cues, is at least different to the abilities of pilots who have airborne experience in precisely that.