Uas Pilot Advantages And Disadvantages

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UAS pilot limitations. Although UAS are unmanned, they are still piloted, controlled, and supervised by humans-in-the-loop. Depending on the UAS, there could be up to 70 people involved in a UAS operation performing jobs as air vehicle operator, payload operator, sensor operator with additional support from maintenance personnel and meteorologist (Cognitive Engineering Research Institute [CERI], 2007). Even with a large support staff, UAS crews are plagued with human factors issues; these issues can include a high operational tempo, high workload, stress, fatigue, poor teamwork, lack of communication, inefficient chain of command, and lack of sufficient training (CERI, 2007). All of these human factors can limit the UAS pilot’s ability …show more content…

Before effective training strategies can be developed, there must be a method to determine the best course of action in the selection of UAS pilots/operators. As of now there is no common standard within the DOD in the selection of UAS pilots; the USAF selects military rated pilots, the Navy requires a private pilot’s license, and the Army does not require a rated pilot (McCarley & Wickens, 2004). Perhaps there is no one best method but research should be completed to determine if pilot selection plays a role or not in pilot training and job performance (McCarley & Wickens, …show more content…

One approach is the U.S. Army’s MQ–1C Unmanned Aircraft System Commander’s Aircrew Training Program and Aircrew Training Manual (TC 3-04.63) which standardizes the training and evaluation of all Army MQ-1C pilots (Department of the Army [DA], 2014). The manual specifically describes responsibilities, details how the program is expected to work, lists training requirements, evaluation requirements, record keeping, and lists every task the pilot is expected to perform and under what conditions and to what set of standards (DA, 2014). Additionally, each task includes a description on the preferred method to complete a specific task (DA, 2014). It is only with this type of detail and standardization that an aircrew member can be expected to perform at a high level. Another important training strategy approach should consider the use of simulation training which will improve performance and increase situational awareness (Goldberg, 2010). Training in high-fidelity simulators that mirror actual UAS GCS and flight conditions create a virtual environment which provide a training platform in which UAS air-crews can train and make mistakes all under the watchful eye of an instructor (Goldberg, 2010). UAS simulator training allows the crews to repeatability practice tasks, evaluate flight data, work as a team, and react to emergency

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