Unmanned Aircrap

[Leo R.]

I know this is a depressing topic, but I want to know if UAVs are the "wave of the future." I am sick and tired of hearing about these things on the news and Discovery Channel (since I am hoping to be an Air Force pilot someday.) How long until these things take our jobs away, and we'll have to fly a radio controlled aircraft from a trailer in the middle of nowhere? Is it possible that the public and military may not accept UAVs for certain missions, and perhaps they will only be used for reconnaissance? I've heard that the Air Force is an organization run by pilots for pilots, and I hope when the time comes, the Air Force will reject proposals to get rid of pilots and manned aircraft and completely switch to UAVs. What do you guys think? Thanks!

 

[thebluto]

There will always be a need for pilots.

I recently heard that there is not enough bandwidth in the frequency spectrum to support an all UAV Air Force (or Navy, Marines, Army, Coast Guard, for that matter). As a matter of fact, there may not be enough bandwidth to significantly increase the numbers of UAVs currently out there. So, we'll always need a "carbon-based bandwidth replacement" (i.e. pilot) to run our airplanes.

Also, if you watch the news much, you'll see that UAVs tend to fall out of the sky quite a bit. This may be because it's a newer technology.

Bottom line: There will be pilot jobs in the future.

I remember my teenage days of dreaming of being a pilot. It's not a bad career choice, if you're truly devoted to flying. But, if you surf around this web-site, you'll see it's a volatile business with a lot of pifalls and anxieties. The job security factor is better in the insurance business, to name one industry, and the military makes it hard to keep flying after you've been in a while.

It's good that you're starting to fly early. I started at 19 years old (1985), and I still wish I would have started sooner.