Predator UAV makes first landing at Civilian Airport (KOSH)

OtisAir

OtisAir

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....snipped from Aviation eBrief.......

Predator UAV makes first landing at civilian airport
For the first time, a Predator unmanned aircraft landed at a civilian airport on Tuesday. The MQ-9 Predator B, normally used to monitor the U.S. border, landed in Oshkosh, Wis., to take part in the AirVenture air show. "We wanted to bring our aircraft here as an educational tour to let general aviation pilots know what this aircraft is all about," a Customs and Border Protection official explained. WBAY-TV (Green Bay, Wis.)
 
I've got nothing against UAVs, but I still don't like the concept of increased domestic surveillance... SAR, traffic spotting, other uses are fine.
 
I don't like the concept of using hideously expensive UAVs to do jobs that can be accomplished by inexpensive aircraft with pilots.
 
Here's the question though: Will the 'pilot' be there (at OSH), or will he/she still be sitting in a bunker in the CO mountains?
 
steingar said:
I don't like the concept of using hideously expensive UAVs to do jobs that can be accomplished by inexpensive aircraft with pilots.
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On the Military Channel over the weekend, was watching something like Greatest Military Fighters. Obviously a great show, but at the end, they got into some of the future aircraft. They stated the next "X" flighter they develop for testing will be unmanned. They closed by stating "the last jet fighter pilot my have already been born". Sad days in deed.

But, being someone who, at his last job, installed and maintained automated test cells, it's a bit hypocritical of me to say so.
 
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UCAVs are a great idea! I hope they come into being. Get the pilot out of harm's way and have a more capable aircraft, since you don't have to worry about killing the pilot with high G maneuvers. Predators in Afghanistan and Iraq make good sense. Get an eye in the sky that doesn't leave widows and orphans. But on our own borders? There is no one shooting back. In metropolitan areas? Sounds to me like government agencies with too little sense and too much of my money. Send out a pilot and an observer in an LSA and you'll get the job done.
 
steingar said:
I don't like the concept of using hideously expensive UAVs to do jobs that can be accomplished by inexpensive aircraft with pilots.
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Vat is dis "inexpensive aircraft" of which you speak?
 
Take an LSA, a pilot, and an observer and you can do what the UAV can do. If time on station is that big a worry you can have two LSA's and still spend less than a quarter the cost of the UAV.
 
Did the UAV bunker pilot read the NOTAM and fly the arrival? (just kidding--probably too early for that)
 
I used to "control" them in the Nellis Range Complex as an air traffic controller. If I hadn't of known they were unmanned, I wouldn't have been able to tell from the communication. I talked to the "aircraft", and the ground-based pilot talked back and the UAV did what I instructed it to do. They even have "OH-****" egress procedures where if all else fails, it has an emergency return to base profile the it'll execute Uncontrolled without real-time manipulation by the pilot(s) (provided it's flyable).
 
steingar said:
I don't like the concept of using hideously expensive UAVs to do jobs that can be accomplished by inexpensive aircraft with pilots.
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A-freakin'-men to that!!!

mikea said:
Vat is dis "inexpensive aircraft" of which you speak?
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It's all relative. A UAV costs on the order of $3,000/hour to operate. A Civil Air Patrol C182 costs (IIRC) $116.
 
OtisAir said:
I used to "control" them in the Nellis Range Complex as an air traffic controller. If I hadn't of known they were unmanned, I wouldn't have been able to tell from the communication. I talked to the "aircraft", and the ground-based pilot talked back and the UAV did what I instructed it to do. They even have "OH-****" egress procedures where if all else fails, it has an emergency return to base profile the it'll execute Uncontrolled without real-time manipulation by the pilot(s) (provided it's flyable).
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Shane or anybody that knows these craft. Do they have onboard TCAS or any kind of collision avoidance equipment?
 
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