Enlisted Pilots Yay or Nay

[Smirnoff]

Once again the Navy is exploring using enlisted members for piloting UAV's and such. What your take on it. Should officers be the only ones who should pilot aircraft?

http://www.navytimes.com/news/2011/11/navy-senior-chief-blazes-trail-enlisted-uav-pilots-110611w/

 

[phrogpilot73]

Enlisted guys are the ones who fly the UAVs in the Marine Corps. There are pilots assigned to VMU squadrons - but they're not the actual pilots. Don't see the issue.

 

[Flugelman]

If the right people are brought into the program I don't see where a commission makes any difference. It's a relatively small number of individuals involved. I was able, as an enlisted guy, to master the monkey skills required to safely get my ass and whoever was dumb enough to ride with me back on the ground. It's a matter of handling the responsibility to train and maintain those skills needed to complete the mission.

 

[Brett327]

As long as those doing so are of the appropriate level of maturity and responsibility, I don't see any inherent problems. They could have a tiered system where those with less experience could "cut their teeth" on the less complex/sophisticated models, while those flying the the X-47 variant, for example, would be more senior in rank and experience. There are a lot of tactical level UAVs being used by enlisted troops already.

Brett

 

[flaps]

maybe they should be at least wo's

 

[HAL Pilot]

An officer is not flying an aircraft because he has inherently better monkey skills than an enlisted pilot, he's flying because of the responsibility and accountability associated with being off on your own with a bunch of weapons. There are many times a pilot of a manned aircraft must make a weapons release decision on his own. An enlisted UAV pilot will always have an officer around to make that decision. It's one of the distinctions between being officer or enlisted.

So no problems with an enlisted UAV pilot.

 

[KCOTT]

Pretty much what HAL said.

 

[bunk22]

No worries here, put the right people in the job, officer or enlisted, no matter. Of course we can go back in history, both the US and that of our enemy, there enlisted pilots, enlisted fighter aces, enlisted bomber pilots, etc. Granted nations like Germany and Japan used more enlisted pilots that other nations but the Navy had their corps of enlisted pilots.

 

[revan1013]

The title of the thread was a bit misleading to me at first. Thought it was going to be about flying manned aircraft. Piloting UAVs isn't the same as being a pilot physically sitting in the aircraft.

Anyway, it makes sense to allow some motivated and mature enlisted personnel to fly unmanned aircraft, as long as the accountability and oversight is in place. I would think we should pick from aircrew and others who have been in the naval aviation business long enough to know what's going on. I'd rather have someone who has experience flying similar aircraft, whether that experience is from fixed or rotary, for example, than someone who was just picked up for it.

 

[KCOTT]

Anyway, it makes sense to allow some motivated and mature enlisted personnel to fly unmanned aircraft, as long as the accountability and oversight is in place. I would think we should pick from aircrew and others who have been in the naval aviation business long enough to know what's going on

Sounds like a perfect opportunity for FE's in squadrons going to the P-8.

 

[Stearmann4]

One needs only to take a comparitive look between the Army and USAF UAV/UAS comminities; since the AF believes that a an enlisted mouth breather doesn't have the cognitive skills to pilot a remote video game, all UPT grads pray to the selection drop gods that their shiny, new wings don't get wasted on a Pred or Reaper, but...they do get DFCs and AMs for the emotional strife they witness. Even then, you might fly a great tour as an F-16/16 driver and then find yourself in a UAV unit for 2-3- years.

The Army on the other hand has nothing but E-4s/E-5s flying our little remote controlled fleet which an E-7 managing them and perhaps a commisioned officer somewhere in the chain. Ain't no UAVs waiting at the end of Army flight school. However, we do send a good number of our DORs to be UAV OICs. You also have to remember that Army Aviation is made up largely by dumb, enlisted guys wearing CWO rank.

Pray the Navy pumps as many enlisted guys and gals into it's UAV program as they can get cuz' if they're flying them that means you won't have to.

MR-

 

[Swanee]

I heard the AF says it has to do with size, airspace and the amount of weapons they carry. Reaper/Predator/Global Hawk is much bigger, carries more weapons and flies further and has more airspace deconfliction issues. There was an argument once that they wanted guys with some type of experience dropping weapons off of real airplanes, but that has gone to the wayside seeing as how T-1 guys may go straight to what they now call RPAs.

 

[M1252]

Hi Everyone,

I've been lurking on the boards here since I received my Pro-Rec for SNA in Feb., but haven't posted until now.

Just wanted to ask if anyone has heard any info updated about who will be flying Navy UAVs? It seems like there are quite a few SNAs/NFOs being selected from the last board(s), and I was wondering if it could be a gearing up for the unmanned platforms? I've read the MQ-8s are currently grounded, but I would assume they will sort out the bugs relatively quickly... Just wanted to ask those currently in the community if they had any updated info so I might have a better idea of potential options/trends down the line (Hoping everything goes according to plan, that is! )

Thanks for all the great gouge!

 

[OUSOONER]

That worry won't happen anytime soon.

 

[Gatordev]

That worry won't happen anytime soon.

Actually...

The Navy isn't selecting UAV pilots in flight school, but the percentage chance of doing a UAV det your first tour is starting to grow, depending on your community. Several Active Duty dets have already deployed and the current det that's underway now (that just had the mishap) is a Reserve det. There's another Reserve det about that's about to execute the Voltron maneuver, but next year, everyone is expecting that another REGNAV det will form and deploy.