Aims To Keep Skills Sharp, Provide Variety To Active
Pilots
Although they are some of the
busiest pilots in the US military, Air National Guard pilots who
are now flying unmanned aircraft from the ground said they still
climb into the cockpit and get some flight time whenever they
can.
Lt. Col. Rick Gibney, operations group commander and MQ-1
Predator pilot for the North Dakota Air Guard's 178th
Reconnaissance Squadron, said he and other pilots who have switched
from flying F-16 Fighting Falcons to piloting unmanned aircraft
thousands of miles away are finding ways to get back into the wild
blue yonder.
"There are a number of us who are private pilots who still get
flying time in some way," said Colonel Gibney. He added that his
squadron has full-time airline pilots who are also "fully engaged
in the Predator mission."
But finding free time for anything now is not so easy, he said.
Pilots in Air National Guard Predator squadrons have more than
doubled their combat air patrols in Iraq and Afghanistan to support
the war-fight, so much so that Colonel Gibney added himself to the
aircrew's work schedule. That helps make it possible for his pilots
to take leave, go flying or just relax.
Guard officials said the remotely piloted Predator with its full
motion video is praised regularly by ground forces who are rounding
up criminals in Iraq and Afghanistan. The aircraft's strength rests
in its ability to fly for extended hours while watching over ground
convoys and raids.
Since 2005, Air Guard officials have stood up three Predator
units in California, Arizona and North Dakota that maintain at
least seven overseas CAPs around the clock. One additional squadron
is standing up in Texas. Guard officials also are standing up their
first MQ-9 Reaper squadron in New York.
Air Guard CAPs are coordinated through the Air Force's 432nd Air
Expeditionary Wing at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada. The
active-duty wing is the central hub for all MQ-1 and MQ-9 unmanned
aircraft missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Initial plans called for one CAP per Air Guard squadron, Gibney
said. But the success of the Predator in the war on terror brought
demands for more patrols.
"We know that Predator is critical to the nation's defense,"
said Col. Robert Becklund, commander for the 119th Wing in Fargo,
ND that oversees both the Predator squadron and a C-21 airlift
squadron. He added that 50 percent of his Airmen have retrained for
new specialties and missions since 2005. More than two thirds of
the wing's F-16 pilots chose to retrain for Predator.
The squadron stood up its first Predator CAP in June 2007.
Missions are piloted remotely from a small, high-security building
on the Fargo base that communicates to the aircraft and joint
forces that are thousands of miles away. The wing took on a second
CAP mission earlier this year with no additional manning.
Contrary to recent media reports -- stating some UAV pilots
suffer a form of post-traumatic stress disorder, due in part to the
paradoxical nature of their deployments --
Becklund said morale is high among his pilots despite the
squadron's 100-percent mobilization.
"We're glad to be in these missions right now," Becklund
said.
Gibney said the squadron may soon rotate Predator pilots for
operational breaks and flight time through its C-21 "bridge"
mission, which in the future may put them in the cockpit of a new
C-27J Spartan joint cargo aircraft (shown at center.)
"We want to give them the opportunity," said Colonel Gibney. "So
it's not a one-way door that you go into Predator and that's where
you are for the rest of your career."
But why the pilots choose to climb out of their cockpits and fly
the Predator varies greatly, Gibney added. "You go down the list
and everyone has a different reason for it," he said. "Maybe they
wanted to be closer to home yet still serve in the warfight."
"I fly commercially on the outside, so this is the opportunity
to do a mission that affects what's going on with the war every
day, but I still get to fly," said a Predator pilot from the
California Air Guard's 196th Reconnaissance Squadron, who withheld
her name for security purposes. "That's why I stayed."
California Air Guard pilots operated the Guard's first Predator
CAP at Nellis AFB, NV in 2006. Its pilots retrained from flying
KC-135 Stratotankers after the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure
Act relocated their aircraft to several other bases.
The squadron now is operating three overseas CAPs around the
clock from their home at March Air Reserve Base, CA and they
receive letters of thanks from Soldiers in Iraq.
(Aero-News salutes Master Sgt. Mike R. Smith, National Guard
Bureau Public Affairs)