UAV piloter er mangelvare - USA

Air Force works to fill need for drone pilots

 

FILE - This Nov. 8, 2011 file photo shows a Predator B unmanned aircraft landing after a mission, at the Naval Air Station, in Corpus Christi, Texas. At the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, becoming a fighter pilot is still a hotly coveted goal. But slowly, a culture change is taking hold. Initially snubbed as second-class pilot-wannabes, the airmen that remotely control America's arsenal of lethal drones are gaining stature and securing a permanent place in the Air Force. Eric Gay, File / AP Photo

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BY LOLITA C. BALDOR

ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON -- Becoming a fighter pilot is still a hotly coveted goal at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo.

But slowly, a culture change is taking hold.

Initially snubbed as second-class pilot-wannabes, the airmen who remotely control America's arsenal of lethal drones are gaining stature and securing a permanent place in the Air Force.

Drawn to the flashy drone strikes that have taken out terrorists including al-Qaida leader Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen to the terror group's No. 2 strongman Abu Yahya al-Libi in Pakistan, airmen are beginning to target unmanned aircraft as their career of choice.

It's a far cry from the grumbling across the air corps a few years ago when Air Force leaders - desperate to meet the rapidly escalating demand for drones - began yanking fighter pilots out of their cockpits and placing them at the remote controls of unmanned Predators and Reapers.

The shift is critical as the Air Force struggles to fill a shortfall of more than 300 drone pilots to meet the U.S. military's enormous hunger for unmanned aircraft around the world.

Some airmen are even volunteering to give up the exhilarating G-force ride in their F-16s for the desktop computer screens and joysticks that direct drones over battlefields thousands of miles away.

The difference is often generational, but many pilots see drones as the future of air combat.

Drone pilot Maj. Ted began his Air Force career as an F-16 pilot but shifted to flying drones and now says he won't go back to flying a fighter jet. He said piloting a drone is empowering because every day, it has a direct impact supporting U.S. troops in Afghanistan. The U.S. military doesn't allow drone pilots to make their full names public because of concerns the pilots could be targeted

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/08/09/2942203/air-force-works-to-fill-need-for.html#storylink=cpy