cupper said:
Take off and landings skills come into play.
Those are generally done autonomously.
We did one night-time manual recovery of a Sperwer early during my tour, and that was ... interesting.
We'd only been airborne for a short time, when I noticed that the AV symbol had stopped moving on the monitor. All that we knew at that point was last-known heading and altitude, which had not changed. As we had no really good idea how long it had been like that, that information was rather useless.
We were not yet familiar enough with local features, and much looked the same (and very grainy), so we could not even begin to guess where we were. Not knowing where one is does not make finding where one wants to be very easy. Once we'd found KAF again (Thank f***), only due to brilliant co-ordination between my Payload Operator and Aerial Vehicle Operators and some very good luck, we then had to set up for a manual recovery. As this was done by parachute, requiring pretty accurate altitude, speed, and heading for several kilometres, and our system was not giving us either, we could only go by what ATC was giving us, and that was not precise enough. Darkness was not our friend during this, but it also meant that there was almost no other traffic around for us to hit, especially when we somehow ended up on the wrong side of the runway on the second, third, or perhaps fourth attempt.
My guys managed to bring it down almost completely inside the recovery area. Part of the machine, however, was in an old Soviet minefield.
We had not ever trained to carry out a manual recovery. There was too much risk to doing so. There was no means of simulating one.
There is no peripheral or binocular vision, sound, or feel when flying one of these things - none of the senses and references that we are used to having in a manned aircraft. Operating Sperwer was a challenge, and there were plenty of surprises, few of which were pleasant.
Reaper/Predator crews, then, at least, were fighter pilots with extensive air-to-ground experience. They had the tactical knowledge to enable them to get the most out of their machines, and were accustomed to having to know their machines thoroughly and think quickly when something happened that was not covered in the emergencies section of the checklist - and we had plenty of the latter, as well.
And they had much comfier seats, reliable air conditioning, and way more monitors than we had.
While we were not armed, we worked with armed Helicopters, armed seized-wing aircraft, and Artillery. We had the authority to shut down any attack if we were unsure of the validity of the target or uncomfortable with its surroundings at any time. That, as much as pressing an attack, even when everything seems proper, is not easy, and we were very careful to get it right.
A KOHS should not have to bear that responsibility.
Oh, and we had to wear CADPAT AR combat clothing like the rest of the peasantry. Those Heron wankers, when they showed up, however...
