Congratulations! Here’s your pilot certificate, and here’s your desk. About 120 Air Force pilots may be wondering how they’re going to “do something amazing” (an Air Force advertising slogan) after being transferred to “fly” unmanned drone aircraft. Unmanned aerial drones have now logged more than 500,000 hours aloft and the swift demand for even more airtime has caused an at least temporary shift in the way pilots are deployed, according to theintelligencer.net. Pilots who once flew missions now relegated to unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are being transferred to other bases, sometimes far out of harm’s way, where they cater to those aircraft that took their jobs and where the physical requirements of their duty may be significantly different. Behind the shift, some are concerned that not only are highly trained personnel being removed from positions that tax dollars trained them for, but they are arriving into positions for which they may not be especially well-suited.
