Drones...Not just for pilots anymore

[Be 23]

Good point. Give them a unique uniform they can be proud of -- white lab coat or something like that. Console operators wearing leather jackets and flight suits are like pilots wearing riding breeches and spurs. :blush:

You were doing fine until you made fun of my footwear accessories. I'll post a profane retort when I think of one that will pass the censors.

FWIW, the NASA guys controlling spacecraft doing the same job (the spacecraft are the part doing the different job) wear a shirt and tie on console. The military guys at NASA mission control wear a shirt and tie too.

 

[CCDiscoB]

...We are going to be in Iraq and Afghanistan until at least September 2011.

Dude you're being naive. Do you think because the press says our troops will be leaving in '09 that we will simply vanish from the region?
The combat troop maybe gone from the streets of Baghdad, but we'll be watching from the sky for a long, long time.

 

[SDF2BUF2MCO]

This is a bow wave coming. I se it as either getting out in front of it or getting plowed over by it.

Yep, and no pun intended, it is the wave of the future.
The Sep/Oct Airman issue even says so!

 

[spitfire1500]

Some of you are already flying drones....the engines on the EMB 145 from Allison were originally made for drones.

 

[Captain Morgan]

...And PT-6's were originally going to be used as gas generators up in the north of Canada.

 

[FFLSinHI]

Yep, and no pun intended, it is the wave of the future.
The Sep/Oct Airman issue even says so!

I think you're right. Don't see many elevator operators around anymore.

"What was the name of that truck driving school Mav? Truck Masters? I might need that..."

 

[Birdstrike]

We're human. It's hard to acknowledge that a machine can render skills obsolete in some profiles. I can kick and scream or I can adapt. If I'm mainly about me, I kick and scream. If I'm about mission accomplishment with reduced risk, I adapt. Either way, it's going to happen.

 

[FFLSinHI]

That's true, but there are limits to what job any of us are willing to do. For me, I love flying. A while ago, I flew 6 days in a row--easy locals, and rented a plane that Sunday to go get a $100 hamburger with my wife. That's my idea of a great week. I hope I never have to decide over the AF and flying airplane I'm sitting in for a living. In the near future, I think the AF is going to lose good pilots because they force that choice on them. It's easy to have an academic discussion on what's best until it's your a$$ and family that are affected.