AF Drone Pilots in short supply

Gerhardt

Gerhardt

En-Route
Joined
Aug 20, 2006
Messages
4,534
Display Name
Display name:
Gerhardt
http://www.columbiatribune.com/news...cle_6fedca4c-a3f6-5779-9e62-b60266c89f84.html

-------------------------------
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Air Force is taking several steps to fill a significant shortfall in drone pilots, laying out plans to increase incentive pay, bring more National Guard and Reserve pilots onto active duty, and seek volunteers to fill needed slots, Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James said Thursday.
Calling them interim measures, James told reporters they might seek larger retention bonuses for drone pilots, much like the maximum $25,000 stipend that manned aircraft pilots can receive. While the Air Force has long struggled with a drone pilot shortage, the demands of ongoing operations, including airstrikes in Iraq and Syria, have exacerbated the problem.
<DIV id=blox-story-media>
<DIV id=div-gpt-ad-1382042327941-5 class="cdt_ad_spot skyscraper"> <DIV id=google_ads_iframe_/1675662/News_Skyscraper_0__container__ style="HEIGHT: 600px; WIDTH: 160px; DISPLAY: inline-block">
 
Maybe they shouldn't require a college degree and a commitment to fly a remote controlled plane.
 
why not just tap into the retired mil pilot community - the flying part is simple - the effort is learning the systems - not flying.
 
Yeah, let's be a part of the problem.

I'd rather work at Walmart than do that crap.
 
6 days in a row for 14 hours a day, just sitting there. Efff that!!! How boring.
 
Ongoing operations? How? Get up, kiss the wife, go to work and fly combat drone thousands of miles away. Go home that night. That must suck having to work from home on a combat deployment. Imagine how easy the muddy boots on the ground I theater must feel for those REMFs.




Jim R
Collierville, TN

N7155H--1946 Piper J-3 Cub
N3368K--1946 Globe GC-1B Swift
N4WJ--1994 Van's RV-4
 
Jim has a point, but it's also the reason they can't get folks to do it. If you're going to be essentially shunned by the rest of the forces saying stuff like Jim did, and made fun of for doing your job, from thousands of miles away, there's little reason to want the job.

Similar morale and disciplinary problems going on in the missile squadrons and have been for years. Living in a hole in the ground in Wyoming isn't as sexy as perhaps it once was, at the height of the Cold War.
 
1. Release simulator game on xbox/ps4
2. track high scores
3. send recruitment literature to homes of top scoring players

I'll take my $10million consulting fee now, please.
 
cowman said:
1. Release simulator game on xbox/ps4

2. track high scores

3. send recruitment literature to homes of top scoring players



I'll take my $10million consulting fee now, please.
Click to expand...


You realize they've already done that. Well, created their own games and tracked those.
 
N3368K said:
Ongoing operations? How? Get up, kiss the wife, go to work and fly combat drone thousands of miles away. Go home that night. That must suck having to work from home on a combat deployment. Imagine how easy the muddy boots on the ground I theater must feel for those REMFs.
Click to expand...

The guys/gals that do the take-offs and landings are deployed down range
 
Seems to me they would have a solid pool of candidates from the guys that wash out of pilot training. Lots of trainees can't handle the physical demands or advanced flying but would be able to handle a drone no problem. I would guess a lot of them would jump at the opportunity considering the alternative may be a logistics slot or getting out.
 
FlyingTiger said:
Seems to me they would have a solid pool of candidates from the guys that wash out of pilot training. Lots of trainees can't handle the physical demands or advanced flying but would be able to handle a drone no problem. I would guess a lot of them would jump at the opportunity considering the alternative may be a logistics slot or getting out.
Click to expand...

A lot of the drop outs get non-rated career slots
 
Local AF reserve unit flies drone missions 24/7...just kills me to see them at lunch in flight suits...I guess there may be a flash fire at the console...most of them are pretty unhappy and all talk about the stress of war while sleeping in their own bed...
 
If there's really a shortage, simply pay them more and advertise that fact. Money always trumps boredom and lack luster image. It does sound like a terrible job, but there are loads worse in the Air Force I'm sure.
 
cowman said:
1. Release simulator game on xbox/ps4
2. track high scores
3. send recruitment literature to homes of top scoring players

I'll take my $10million consulting fee now, please.
Click to expand...

Nobody will play a game that boring.
 
Warlock said:
Local AF reserve unit flies drone missions 24/7...just kills me to see them at lunch in flight suits...I guess there may be a flash fire at the console...most of them are pretty unhappy and all talk about the stress of war while sleeping in their own bed...
Click to expand...

If you're jealous of their working conditions, you should volunteer and join them then you could go home at night to your own bed. Apparently there are openings.
 
Reminds me of Air Force Space Operations in the '70s. Bad hours, no "flash" (most of it was classified), and limited promotion opportunity (pilots were preferred for commanders...our space ops unit (officers were 75% engineers) was commanded by an ex F-51 pilot with an animal husbandry degree). At one point, they tried to pay extra money to keep us, too.....

Ron Wanttaja
 
comanchepilot said:
why not just tap into the retired mil pilot community - the flying part is simple - the effort is learning the systems - not flying.
Click to expand...

cowman said:
1. Release simulator game on xbox/ps4
2. track high scores
3. send recruitment literature to homes of top scoring players

I'll take my $10million consulting fee now, please.
Click to expand...

Ha I was gonna say just go hang out at any High school Robotics club meet.
 
Dav8or said:
If you're jealous of their working conditions, you should volunteer and join them then you could go home at night to your own bed. Apparently there are openings.
Click to expand...

I did 24 years and they don't pay enough...the problem is the Air Force insists this is a Commissioned Officer Job...they really need to change the mindset that Trigger Pullers have to have bars....
 
Warlock said:
I did 24 years and they don't pay enough...the problem is the Air Force insists this is a Commissioned Officer Job...they really need to change the mindset that Trigger Pullers have to have bars....
Click to expand...

I think that's what the other poster was alluding to. He essentially asked you if you would do it if they paid you O3-O4 money as opposed to the WO wages you presumably worked for while flying helos for the ARMY.

For the record. I wouldn't. I'm an O3 in the AFRES and the only thing keeping me around is the rocket they let me fly. Otherwise I'd get out. Likewise, I wouldn't fly this rocket for WO money. Not for a career. I'd do exactly one tour, punch the experience ticket and get out. Enlisted and WO wages have never been particularly competitive on a retirement income basis. Too much opportunity cost given in older age. To each their own.
 
Last edited:
nauga said:
...an ex F-51 pilot with an animal husbandry degree)
Click to expand...
Was he blind and communist too? :goofy:
Click to expand...
Wasn't blind, but the Colonel's eyes *did* glaze over when we used words like "telemetry" or "Delta-V" or "hydrazine."

Wasn't a Red, but I saw him red, once. We were at a post-Dining-Out bar hop, all in our fancy mess dress uniforms. Me and my fellow lieutenants (most early 20s) had at most one medal, and a pocket rocket (pre-dated the Air Force Space Operations badge). The Colonel, of course, had a veritable fruit salad with service dating back to Korea.

Civilian woman came elbowing through, irritated at the crowd. She poked him on his medals, and said, "Did you win this in the big one?"

Friend of mine, fellow butter-bar, immediately chimed in: "Yeah, the Franco-Prussian War...."

The Colonel was Not Amused.

Ron Wanttaja
 
Warlock said:
just kills me to see them at lunch in flight suits...I guess there may be a flash fire at the console...
Click to expand...

Same thing goes for space guys

Dav8or said:
If there's really a shortage, simply pay them more and advertise that fact. Money always trumps boredom and lack luster image
Click to expand...

Money is kinda tight Air Force wide

Dav8or said:
It does sound like a terrible job, but there are loads worse in the Air Force I'm sure.
Click to expand...

I watch enlisted guys empty the toilets out of our jets everytime we land... I have friends that are maintenance officers, logistics officers, and finance officers...I'd take flying a drone over those any day of the week.
 
I was both...it to the joke was I had to be commissioned when they found out my parents were married...I also declined my last promotion to remain flying...Flight Suits and or Money still not going to fix the problem that's sort of where I am getting at...but on the flip side the military has a bunch of crappy jobs and its not one of them.
 
Why does everyone get such a hard on about flightsuits? That is the uniform for PILOTS. I wear my bag when I'm not on the schedule, and when I'm TDY to non-flying events. Why should those folks get penalized (and further segregated from their peers from UPT)?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
cowman said:
1. Release simulator game on xbox/ps4
2. track high scores
3. send recruitment literature to homes of top scoring players

I'll take my $10million consulting fee now, please.
Click to expand...

Sounds like The Last Starfighter. :D
 
Remember the Combat Drone Medal....precedence was in front of the Bronze Star and Purple Heart....DOD Finally Killed it after the outrage...I guess that was an attempt at retention that went bad...Drone guys are in a no mans zone when it comes to Aviation and that's not going to change...

 
jonnyjetprop said:
Biggest issue is that Delta doesn't accept drone time (yet).
Click to expand...

Most guys I know who voluntarily transitioned to UAVs did so to have a lucrative vocational outlet post retirement/separation that did NOT involve the frequent home absence endemic to airline employment. Some of them were prior regional pilots as well mind you. So that's not really an issue as stated.
 
After retirement? Are there a lot of civilian drone jobs?
 
cowman said:
1. Release simulator game on xbox/ps4
2. track high scores
3. send recruitment literature to homes of top scoring players

I'll take my $10million consulting fee now, please.
Click to expand...


Is your real name Centauri?


edit

I see Mcfly beat me to it after I finished reading the thread.
 
N3368K said:
Ongoing operations? How? Get up, kiss the wife, go to work and fly combat drone thousands of miles away. Go home that night. That must suck having to work from home on a combat deployment. Imagine how easy the muddy boots on the ground I theater must feel for those REMFs.
Click to expand...

It would suck having to get up and deal with all the bull**** that is military life, then do your mission only to get **** on by douche nozzles like you.

I think I have to go check my military e-mail because I'm on 1,000,000 hit lists for IA, SAPR, EO, government credit card, ethics, and who knows what else. Pretty sure I missed a urinalysis, breathalyzer, maybe even an anal cavity search in there too. If I didn't fly then you couldn't pay me enough to do this *****.
 
Last edited:
turbofan said:
It would suck having to get up and deal with all the bull**** that is military life, then do your mission only to get **** on by douche nozzles like you.



I think I have to go check my military e-mail because I'm on 1,000,000 hit lists for IA, SAPR, EO, government credit card, ethics, and who knows what else. Pretty sure I missed a urinalysis, breathalyzer, maybe even an anal cavity search in there too. If I didn't fly then you couldn't pay me enough to do this *****.
Click to expand...


I did twenty-two years in the muddy boot Army so check your self-righteous indignation. I know the **** one has to put up with in the military. I have no sympathy for how "tough" it must be for a fight from home drone driver getting to go home every f'ing night and not miss birthdays, holidays, anniversaries.


Jim R
Collierville, TN

N7155H--1946 Piper J-3 Cub
N3368K--1946 Globe GC-1B Swift
N4WJ--1994 Van's RV-4
 
Hmm well i applied with a 3.4 gpa pilot license and ridiculous pcsm score for my hours afoqt scores in between nav and pilot averages and well above rpa and didnt get any rated slot so they must not be to desperate.
 
I cannot not imagine the absolute boredom that must come with being a drone operator. On top of being as much a real pilot as a sim flyer, you can't even say BTDT, because you weren't there.

If the AF has problems getting people to do this, maybe they need to increase their training budget a little, push more people through the classes and get their manpower where it needs to be rather than whine about not having enough people who want to work an 84 hour week.

Also, from a related Huff Post article:

"The Air Force may face challenges recruiting officers to serve as RPA pilots because of a negative perception that some in the Air Force associate with flying RPAs," wrote the GAO. "Headquarters Air Force officials, RPA pilots in some of our focus groups, and one unit commander stated that some in the Air Force view flying RPAs negatively, resulting in a stigma. According to these officials one reason some view flying an RPA negatively is because flying an RPA does not require pilots to operate an aircraft while on board an aircraft in-flight."
 
Last edited:
N3368K said:
Ongoing operations? How? Get up, kiss the wife, go to work and fly combat drone thousands of miles away. Go home that night. That must suck having to work from home on a combat deployment. Imagine how easy the muddy boots on the ground I theater must feel for those REMFs.




Jim R
Collierville, TN

N7155H--1946 Piper J-3 Cub
N3368K--1946 Globe GC-1B Swift
N4WJ--1994 Van's RV-4
Click to expand...

Aritillary won't be far behind. Drive itself into position via Google Maps. Drone helicopters will fly in to reload their magazine. There's already commercial drones that could replace an infantryman.
 
bflynn said:
I cannot not imagine the absolute boredom that must come with being a drone operator. On top of being as much a real pilot as a sim flyer, you can't even say BTDT, because you weren't there.

If the AF has problems getting people to do this, maybe they need to increase their training budget a little, push more people through the classes and get their manpower where it needs to be rather than whine about not having enough people who want to work an 84 hour week.

Also, from a related Huff Post article:

"The Air Force may face challenges recruiting officers to serve as RPA pilots because of a negative perception that some in the Air Force associate with flying RPAs," wrote the GAO. "Headquarters Air Force officials, RPA pilots in some of our focus groups, and one unit commander stated that some in the Air Force view flying RPAs negatively, resulting in a stigma. According to these officials one reason some view flying an RPA negatively is because flying an RPA does not require pilots to operate an aircraft while on board an aircraft in-flight."
Click to expand...

You start marketing to them in 8th grade, you get games into the market, you make a movie genre where the dude saves the world with his drone and the hot chick rims him. You develop the talent you need from youth on.
 
Henning said:
Aritillary won't be far behind. Drive itself into position via Google Maps. Drone helicopters will fly in to reload their magazine. There's already commercial drones that could replace an infantryman.
Click to expand...


Thanks for showing your ignorance about artillery operations.


Jim R
Collierville, TN

N7155H--1946 Piper J-3 Cub
N3368K--1946 Globe GC-1B Swift
N4WJ--1994 Van's RV-4
 
N3368K said:
Thanks for showing your ignorance about artillery operations.


Jim R
Collierville, TN

N7155H--1946 Piper J-3 Cub
N3368K--1946 Globe GC-1B Swift
N4WJ--1994 Van's RV-4
Click to expand...

Do you think the people at Aberdeen don't have a project like this in their offices? I may not have all the details, but I will place a large bet that the concept is being worked on by those who do. Tank corps too.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top