In 2009 the Air Force conducted beta classes in which it trained officers who had not previously been pilots to be UAV operators.  (It also created new “wings” for the RPA pilots and granted them flight pay.)  Earlier this year, the first non-pilots graduated into the RQ-4 Global Hawk, a keyboard-operated UAV.

Now, the first non-prior pilots have graduated to become MQ-9 Reaper operators:

This marks the first time a student pilot in the Air Force Specialty Code 18X has completed the MQ-9 Basic Course without having been previously qualified in a manned aircraft.

The basic course mirrors traditional Undergraduate Pilot Training, but also has some differences specific to the MQ-9 platform, said Lt. Col. Nathan Hansen, 29th Attack Squadron commander.

The students now move on to operational squadrons.  In essence, after 6 months they are where manned aircraft pilots are after 18 to 24 months, with one notable exception:  They don’t know how to take off or land.

A significant difference and the reason why we can teach someone how to do this that doesn’t have any prior aircraft experience, is because they will never come in contact with the Earth with the aircraft. For RPAs, we have a mission control element and a launch and recovery element. The only portion we control here and train to do here is the mission control element.

That puts “just in time training” in a whole new light.