‘Stop saying ‘uh-oh’ while you’re flying’: Drone crash pilot quotes unveiled

A drone still needs a human behind it, and I found some of this article pretty interesting:

“Stop saying ‘uh-oh’ while you’re flying. It’s never good. Like going to the dentist or a doctor. . . . ‘Oops? What the f— you mean ‘Oops?’ “

Unidentified camera operator, to a habitually nervous Predator pilot right before takeoff at Jalalabad Air Base on July 24, 2012.

“Whoa. . . . I don’t know what the hell just happened.”

The same nervous Predator pilot, moments later, after the drone crashed.

I didn't know that the 'pilots' had camera operators that talked to them during missions. It's an interesting article about these new "drones" that seem to be appearing everywhere:

Washington Post

"pilot" dialogue...

“This thing’s kind of climbing like a pig. Climb, you pig. . . . Boy, this is going to be tight. . . . Okay, interesting. We are falling out of the sky.”

I swear like a sailor while playing my android golf game.At least I haven't killed anyone if I play bad.

Sometimes I wonder if these guys think that their on "training" missions, but are actually operational. The chatter sure seems to indicate a blasé attitude.

Just had a scary thought.What if an operator went postal and decided to fly one into a mall or stadium?

originally posted by: TDawg61
Just had a scary thought.What if an operator went postal and decided to fly one into a mall or stadium?

no different than a pilot going postal?

originally posted by: TDawg61
Just had a scary thought.What if an operator went postal and decided to fly one into a mall or stadium?

I am not saying it couldn't happen, but I think that scenario has been considered and I am fairly certain the operators are not secluded so if one started to go postal there is a commanding officer who could pull the plug on him. I believe the newer drones have a return program so that if communication is lost they automatically begin the return to base at least until communication is reestablished.

a reply to: MystikMushroom

Part 1 is interesting with the quotes, but part 2 is even more interesting describing that the predators are such pieces of junk that even the president of the company that makes them said he wouldn't endorse trying to fly them over residential areas in the US. Apparently reliability and safety wasn't such a high priority with the predator but he says it is with the successor, the Reaper.

I'll be watching to see if they start flying predators over the US against the manufacturer's advice, though apparently that's happened already on limited occasions. Apparently these drones are now going to become common in US skies, along with some commercial drones too.

Turning killing into a video game on one end and real life on the other. Flight skill level may well suffer when the 'pilot' isn't going to die in a crash. Just a game...

Chuckled at the c-130 incident, so I googled it found a nice site with some pics of the damage
defensetech.org...

The camera operators sit right next to a pilot. Think of a cockpit. The pilot is on the left, the camera operator is on the right.

a reply to: boomer135

Are these things able to be refueled by a tanker? Extending the loiter time of these would (in my eyes) be a good thing.

I wonder what the longest continual flight of a traditional air frame is...

originally posted by: MystikMushroom
a reply to: boomer135

Are these things able to be refueled by a tanker? Extending the loiter time of these would (in my eyes) be a good thing.

I wonder what the longest continual flight of a traditional air frame is...

Not predators. But other UAVs are

Edit. I'm in the chat room...