You gotta feel sorry for UAV pilots, a lot of them go to OCS with big dreams of flying Vipers and Eagles in the Wild Blue Yonder, only to have them crushed because the Power Points and Excel spreadsheets don't lie: a disposable aircraft and a pilot out of harm's way is way more cost effective. It's a thankless job, but you know what? If no one did the thankless jobs in this world, we'd be up to our heads in shit, because no one would pick up our garbage or drop a Hellfire in a terrorist's lap.
Haha the end picture is the future graduation flyover at USAFA obviously. They hung one of those things from the ceiling at the dining hall. They'd never foster cynicism though.
I remember at Riddle, they said the Iranians couldn't even fly at night or IFR. I guess they only shot down Iraqis during the day for their localized air victories. I think our average 14-year-old Flight Sim pilot could beat Iran in a dogfight. They put more time into it.
You know, maybe the future will be adding drones as wingmen to a manned fighter, that gives targets to them by data-link. This way, a fighter pilot would ensure air superiority, while his drones would take care of ground targets.
The Air Force has to protect it's multi-million dollar pilots from those Army Sergeants with 10,000 hours of video game experience. You don't need 20-20 vision, flight pay, and a nomex suit with zippers to sit in a soft chair in an air ...conditioned trailer in North Dakota or Nevada and play video games. Since you can't "feel" anything, all those expensive hours of Flight School are wasted. As is the flight physical. You can't fool Congress forever.
:'[ Just thinking by the time I get to being a Pilot (If I do) I might have to sit in a fucking booth pretty much doin the same shit as flying in a flight simulator, makes me cringe... I'm 13.
@Teckfall15- Neither am I. I know what Patton meant when he said he was glad he'd never live to see the day when unmanned warfare and remote-guided missiles became more and more prominent. I'm living in the time he spoke of, and I can't stand this nonsense about having more and more stuff be unmanned. Used to be, folks were ecstatic if their car had automatic transmission. Now, everything has to be electronic and done mostly or entirely by robots.
maybe the whole shoot down is a perfict example of why there should be no preditor especaly since the rtarded ilot had to try and bag an air-to-air kill a warthog pilot whouldn't have tried that but if he did he'd of sucseded
Are you at SUPT? I went to a familiarazation course for a week at XL, it was really fun, unfortuantly couldnt fly in the T-6's or T-38's, but we did go up in the T-1's, that was still fun! lol. Im taking private lessons, soloed about a month ago, planning on flying C-17's in the future!
It may not be fun. It may not be glamorous like being a fighter pilot. But Predators have been killing more bad guys than the fighter pilots who are just pissed that they train night and day and have less kills.
I'd rather fly too, but there's something to be said about getting to shwack some bad guys and then go home and crawl into bed with your woman. F@#K the sandbox!
Please, A-10s have been causing by far more devestation with the 30mm than those high end R/C airplanes with a couple of bottle rockets straped to them. And besides, who's going to run around with the fear of Predators in them?
"couple of bottle rockets"? Way to prove your civvy-ness. I know the Hellfire is more for hard targets, but I *still* wouldn't want fired in my direction...
Well, when compared next to the GAU-8 Avenger 30mm, I feel comfortable in calling the AGM-114 a bottle rocket. And oh yeah, INFO NOTE: I'm a crew chief on the A-10 airframe, so that nullifies the "civvy-ness".
If you're not lying about that, you must be one of those crew chiefs who only knows his own airframe and nothing else. Who runs scared of the Predator? The Pakistani Taliban, Iraqi insurgents, Somali jihadists, and a shit-ton of other militants we have a beef with. The Predator allows us FAR more time on station for TACRECCE missions, costs less, and is much less likely to get us involved in some political incident in a third country. For what it does, those "bottle rockets" work just fine.
Well, I did some cross training to the UAV world and I'm just not into them. But I've never heard of a Marine or grunt thanking a predator crew chief/pilot for providing effective CAS.
Well, I've never heard of any Marine or Army G.I, thanking a Predator pilot/crew chief for helping provide effective CAS. I've taken basic UAV maintenace course as part of my career training, and yeah, I'm not impressed. Just my opinion, I could be wrong.
Well yeah, of course not, the Predator was never intended for CAS. That's what A-10s, AC-130s, Strike Eagles, F-16s, and Army/Marine aviation is for. I'll agree that UAVs aren't nearly as sexy as any of those other platforms, but they've got their role.
Predators have real value and all...but the last one of those they had stationed with BP down here got caught in a strong wind and crashed....and it made me smile.
Pilots dedicate their lives to flying. Not sitting in a phone booth playing video games. Many pilots assigned to the Predator are begging for aero clubs so that they can get back in the air.
@maddog2840 Amen Bro. the only way I would fly those things is if I was relegated to Ground duties permenantly. And even then I would be a member of the local FTA (Flight Training Association)
The pilots are bemoaning the fact that they might be assigned to drones instead of real fighter aircraft. They a commenting on how it would suck to fly a drone.
They then muse on the fact that shooting down a UAV is like "Clubbing a Baby Seal". No skill required, drone is defenseless.
"It is very easy for ignorant people to think that success in war may be gained by the use of some wonderful invention rather than by hard fighting and superior leadership."- General George Patton
While change is rarely a bad thing, that Predator is as underwhelming as the F/A-18E/F Stupid Hornet. Honestly, a prop-driven toy plane cannot fight or fly like a high-performance warplane. And whadda ya know, both a Hornet and a Predator were shot down by a MiG-25, a warplane from the 60s!
Hey, no need to dis the Hornet fucker. The Hornet's alpha is excellent and it has a terrific roll rate and the best radar any Naval jet has had. You know when the military compared the Hornet to other jets, they compared it to the Viper, not the F-16E/F.
And one more thing. From some research Ive done, 2 USAF pilots have been downed in F-16s, by Serb SAMs and 2 USN pilots were shot down in F-18s, one by a MiG and one by a SAM. I dont hink it has anything to do with the planes, I think its the pilots.
In the Gulf War, two F-18 pilots had two Mig-21 kills. They were on a bomb run when they picked them up. The two pilots became the first to rack up air-to-air kills while still completing their air-to-ground mission. Each Hornet was carrying 4 2,000lb bombs.
Whoop de do. Guess what, I don't recall the Iraqi MiGs running from any Hornet. However, I DO recall them turning tail and running away from F-15s and F-14s,and neither of those sustained a single combat loss due to air engagements (to add insult to injury, though, Air Force AWACS typically bypassed F-14s and vectored in AF assets when they had bandits, the jackasses.)
@pesfrdaman More like very pleased putting those F-14s out of their misery. :)
Remember, the United States hasn't supplied Iran with spare parts and maintenance for the F-14s and their AIM-54s since 1979. The U.S. government has taken multiple steps to ensure Iran never gets replacement parts, either. What F-14s remain in service with Iran are very likely not in excellent condition, to say nothing of their missiles.
Afaik the Iranians at least somewhat got around the missile problem by modifiyng the MIM-23 Hawk to be launched by their F-14s. Saywhat you want, but these gus are pretty creative. Heh, they have to be to keep their Tomcats still flying.
Iran's AF is the equivalent of the Franklin county Civil Air Patrol. They have advanced anti-air missiles. Big whoop! They haven't had any air combat experience since 1984. Frankly, France could beat them.
So? The French Airforce could beat about 90% of all contenders out there and give the remainder a pretty harsh fight. The Iranians just happen to be quite near the top of that 90%, what with having an actually quite nice arsenal and a track record of using it a darn sight better than most everyone in the region.
Actually I was wrong, ur talking Super Hornet. The Super is comarable to the Eagle while the reg Hornet is comparable to the Viper. The F/A-18 Super Hornet is possible the most advanced carrier based plane to ever fly...until the F-35 gets introduced :/
UAV aka RPA. Remotely PILOTED Aircraft. A drone is a FULLY AUTONONOMOUS aircraft. Fully preprogramed. Preds are remotely PILOTED. People dont pilot drones.
@maddog2840 I'll take a manned aircraft over an unmanned one, limits the time between the pilots motions and the aircraft actually performing them, to well, damn near zero. And the eyes of a human and reaction time will always be better in reliability. As for the UAV, well, I'd say keep it in roles where a small aircraft can more easily slip in unnoticed, Or into places where a normal aircraft even at high altitudes would be in severe danger. But we should never replace all pilots with UAV's
When total air superiority is achieved, there's no need for military jets to fly. Assasination drones are better in these situations.
mininow 2 weeks ago
You gotta feel sorry for UAV pilots, a lot of them go to OCS with big dreams of flying Vipers and Eagles in the Wild Blue Yonder, only to have them crushed because the Power Points and Excel spreadsheets don't lie: a disposable aircraft and a pilot out of harm's way is way more cost effective. It's a thankless job, but you know what? If no one did the thankless jobs in this world, we'd be up to our heads in shit, because no one would pick up our garbage or drop a Hellfire in a terrorist's lap.
se7en00110111 2 months ago
Aircraft are for pilots to fly....not some pimple faced teenager flyin' outta some room back in Nevada who scored high on a video game in high school.
Nothing beats a pilots eyes, ears and intellect inside the map when it comes to thinking.and decision making.
CropDusterMan 3 months ago
Haha the end picture is the future graduation flyover at USAFA obviously. They hung one of those things from the ceiling at the dining hall. They'd never foster cynicism though.
Qui3tman 5 months ago
I remember at Riddle, they said the Iranians couldn't even fly at night or IFR. I guess they only shot down Iraqis during the day for their localized air victories. I think our average 14-year-old Flight Sim pilot could beat Iran in a dogfight. They put more time into it.
chrisflyz20 5 months ago
You know, maybe the future will be adding drones as wingmen to a manned fighter, that gives targets to them by data-link. This way, a fighter pilot would ensure air superiority, while his drones would take care of ground targets.
ElementoVolatile 8 months ago
The Air Force has to protect it's multi-million dollar pilots from those Army Sergeants with 10,000 hours of video game experience. You don't need 20-20 vision, flight pay, and a nomex suit with zippers to sit in a soft chair in an air ...conditioned trailer in North Dakota or Nevada and play video games. Since you can't "feel" anything, all those expensive hours of Flight School are wasted. As is the flight physical. You can't fool Congress forever.
jeolson11 1 year ago
2 people had their predators shot down
2349DF 1 year ago
The baby seal bit had me doubled over
2349DF 1 year ago
:'[ Just thinking by the time I get to being a Pilot (If I do) I might have to sit in a fucking booth pretty much doin the same shit as flying in a flight simulator, makes me cringe... I'm 13.
xXxDeitiesxXx 1 year ago
@xXxDeitiesxXx Good luck man, we might not even have the money to maintain drones 8 years from now.
Qui3tman 3 weeks ago
love the usaf الحب المفترس
sergeantdiessel 1 year ago
Great song!
drdormin 2 years ago
I am NOT a fan of UAVs..... Just means the day fighter pilots are out of a job is getting closer.... That is a sucky thought...
Teckfall15 2 years ago 13
Agreed. The days are numbered for the fighter pilot, but not yet over. I mean the F-35 and F-22 are just beginning their careers.
barolfe 2 years ago 4
Except they stopped the F-22 program and are talking about ending the F-35 program too.
Nothing they have on the horizon could replace the A-10 either.
DEP717 2 years ago
@Teckfall15- Neither am I. I know what Patton meant when he said he was glad he'd never live to see the day when unmanned warfare and remote-guided missiles became more and more prominent. I'm living in the time he spoke of, and I can't stand this nonsense about having more and more stuff be unmanned. Used to be, folks were ecstatic if their car had automatic transmission. Now, everything has to be electronic and done mostly or entirely by robots.
Jurassic0Al 1 year ago
maybe the whole shoot down is a perfict example of why there should be no preditor especaly since the rtarded ilot had to try and bag an air-to-air kill a warthog pilot whouldn't have tried that but if he did he'd of sucseded
flyboymike111357 2 years ago
give me a thumbs up if you want me to set a paper model MQ-1 on fire and put it on youtube!
C2dltCAP 3 years ago 20
Do it! Cant stand that POS...
N365PA 2 years ago
So thats what they're making them out of now? They used to be just one solid chunk of flying crap.
MysteriousDoor 2 years ago
haha... they still are... lol
C2dltCAP 2 years ago
DO IT!
archangell44 2 years ago
its done, just wating on the video, I had to use a frineds camera
C2dltCAP 2 years ago
UAV gets shot down please insert credit
shoootme 3 years ago
rock on predator..eye see you :O)
42thundercloud 3 years ago
where can i download these songs
1Gaumer 4 years ago 2
limewire
F22RaptorFF 3 years ago
go to ITUNES
francmj 3 years ago
ok... I just want to know why F22RaptorFF and francemj got a thumbs down for suggesting places to ge the songs... thats kinda wierd if u ask me...
C2dltCAP 2 years ago
CAP!? lol...commander's awareness Program!? :)
archangell44 2 years ago
Civil Air Patrol, USAF AUX... Im a cadet
C2dltCAP 2 years ago 2
Good luck man...6 flights from grad!!!
archangell44 2 years ago
Are you at SUPT? I went to a familiarazation course for a week at XL, it was really fun, unfortuantly couldnt fly in the T-6's or T-38's, but we did go up in the T-1's, that was still fun! lol. Im taking private lessons, soloed about a month ago, planning on flying C-17's in the future!
C2dltCAP 2 years ago
how much do predators cost?
JD1010101110 4 years ago
a few hundred k a piece
msullivan86 3 years ago
flying the predator is like watching porn instead of having sex.. Im with you Gringos, screw UAVs!
Marshall1147 4 years ago 3
It may not be fun. It may not be glamorous like being a fighter pilot. But Predators have been killing more bad guys than the fighter pilots who are just pissed that they train night and day and have less kills.
WarheadsonForeheads 4 years ago
I think the real issue is that they would rather actually fly than sit and watch a screen. In the future, try not to be a dumbass.
jbandre09 4 years ago 2
I'd rather fly too, but there's something to be said about getting to shwack some bad guys and then go home and crawl into bed with your woman. F@#K the sandbox!
WarheadsonForeheads 4 years ago 4
but seeing as u dont do any flying do u think she will want to have a lil fun?
justalilrandom 4 years ago
Please, A-10s have been causing by far more devestation with the 30mm than those high end R/C airplanes with a couple of bottle rockets straped to them. And besides, who's going to run around with the fear of Predators in them?
cowboyroberts83 2 years ago
"couple of bottle rockets"? Way to prove your civvy-ness. I know the Hellfire is more for hard targets, but I *still* wouldn't want fired in my direction...
empath69 2 years ago
Well, when compared next to the GAU-8 Avenger 30mm, I feel comfortable in calling the AGM-114 a bottle rocket. And oh yeah, INFO NOTE: I'm a crew chief on the A-10 airframe, so that nullifies the "civvy-ness".
cowboyroberts83 2 years ago
If you're not lying about that, you must be one of those crew chiefs who only knows his own airframe and nothing else. Who runs scared of the Predator? The Pakistani Taliban, Iraqi insurgents, Somali jihadists, and a shit-ton of other militants we have a beef with. The Predator allows us FAR more time on station for TACRECCE missions, costs less, and is much less likely to get us involved in some political incident in a third country. For what it does, those "bottle rockets" work just fine.
battleax86 2 years ago 3
Well, I did some cross training to the UAV world and I'm just not into them. But I've never heard of a Marine or grunt thanking a predator crew chief/pilot for providing effective CAS.
cowboyroberts83 2 years ago
Well, I've never heard of any Marine or Army G.I, thanking a Predator pilot/crew chief for helping provide effective CAS. I've taken basic UAV maintenace course as part of my career training, and yeah, I'm not impressed. Just my opinion, I could be wrong.
cowboyroberts83 2 years ago
Well yeah, of course not, the Predator was never intended for CAS. That's what A-10s, AC-130s, Strike Eagles, F-16s, and Army/Marine aviation is for. I'll agree that UAVs aren't nearly as sexy as any of those other platforms, but they've got their role.
battleax86 2 years ago
You Got it...the Uav is only a fucking bottle with two ironde wings!!!!! Fuck it... Fox two!!!!!
goingformerge 4 years ago
Predators have real value and all...but the last one of those they had stationed with BP down here got caught in a strong wind and crashed....and it made me smile.
alterack 4 years ago
Flying the predator is like trading in your Corvett for a tricycle, but try to remember how fun your tricycle was... good times!!
P.S. When you predator gets shot down, just hit the reset button on you game console, and hope you saved your game before hand.
snowman6427 4 years ago
Was it not a MiG-25?
tommoon 4 years ago
Pilots dedicate their lives to flying. Not sitting in a phone booth playing video games. Many pilots assigned to the Predator are begging for aero clubs so that they can get back in the air.
maddog2840 4 years ago 13
They can beg for Aero Clubs (properly "Flight Training Centers") all they want, fact is the funding's been all but cut for those organizations.
I was pissed when they closed the one at my old base, less than a year after I did some work for it.
RingSight91 4 years ago
@maddog2840 Amen Bro. the only way I would fly those things is if I was relegated to Ground duties permenantly. And even then I would be a member of the local FTA (Flight Training Association)
Plawranc 1 year ago
@maddog2840- If I joined the Air Force, I'd want to fly. And there's no way they could keep me stuck in a booth flying one of those UAV's for long...
Jurassic0Al 1 year ago
The pilots are bemoaning the fact that they might be assigned to drones instead of real fighter aircraft. They a commenting on how it would suck to fly a drone.
They then muse on the fact that shooting down a UAV is like "Clubbing a Baby Seal". No skill required, drone is defenseless.
"It is very easy for ignorant people to think that success in war may be gained by the use of some wonderful invention rather than by hard fighting and superior leadership."- General George Patton
maddog2840 4 years ago 8
The pred does lots of good work in the middle east. Its ignorant to fear change.
HGTheory 4 years ago
While change is rarely a bad thing, that Predator is as underwhelming as the F/A-18E/F Stupid Hornet. Honestly, a prop-driven toy plane cannot fight or fly like a high-performance warplane. And whadda ya know, both a Hornet and a Predator were shot down by a MiG-25, a warplane from the 60s!
PTKilowatt 4 years ago
You know, I think they once admitted that the Predator could be shot down by a guy with a shotgun pulling up next to it in a helicopter...
RRVCrinale 4 years ago 3
Anyway, while Predators can do good, they really ought not to butt in on the rest of the Air Force...
RRVCrinale 4 years ago 3
Hey, no need to dis the Hornet fucker. The Hornet's alpha is excellent and it has a terrific roll rate and the best radar any Naval jet has had. You know when the military compared the Hornet to other jets, they compared it to the Viper, not the F-16E/F.
ElPresidente101 4 years ago
And one more thing. From some research Ive done, 2 USAF pilots have been downed in F-16s, by Serb SAMs and 2 USN pilots were shot down in F-18s, one by a MiG and one by a SAM. I dont hink it has anything to do with the planes, I think its the pilots.
ElPresidente101 4 years ago
In the Gulf War, two F-18 pilots had two Mig-21 kills. They were on a bomb run when they picked them up. The two pilots became the first to rack up air-to-air kills while still completing their air-to-ground mission. Each Hornet was carrying 4 2,000lb bombs.
ElPresidente101 4 years ago 4
Whoop de do. Guess what, I don't recall the Iraqi MiGs running from any Hornet. However, I DO recall them turning tail and running away from F-15s and F-14s,and neither of those sustained a single combat loss due to air engagements (to add insult to injury, though, Air Force AWACS typically bypassed F-14s and vectored in AF assets when they had bandits, the jackasses.)
PTKilowatt 4 years ago
well yeah, but those are two entirely different aircraft. But, ur right.
ElPresidente101 4 years ago
TRUE STORY:
During Southern Watch a F-18 was patrolling and had the Iranians come up on the radio.
Iran: American aircraft, leave Iranian airspace or we will launch interceptors.
Hornet Pilot: Send 'em up.
maddog2840 3 years ago 24
Lol, awesome. Probably was a bit bored.
MysteriousDoor 2 years ago
@maddog2840
Hornet driver would be very pleased beenig hunted by F-14 :)
pesfrdaman 1 year ago
@pesfrdaman More like very pleased putting those F-14s out of their misery. :)
Remember, the United States hasn't supplied Iran with spare parts and maintenance for the F-14s and their AIM-54s since 1979. The U.S. government has taken multiple steps to ensure Iran never gets replacement parts, either. What F-14s remain in service with Iran are very likely not in excellent condition, to say nothing of their missiles.
ShiggityBlam 1 year ago 3
@ShiggityBlam
Tom Cooper doesn't agree :)
pesfrdaman 1 year ago
@ShiggityBlam
Afaik the Iranians at least somewhat got around the missile problem by modifiyng the MIM-23 Hawk to be launched by their F-14s. Saywhat you want, but these gus are pretty creative. Heh, they have to be to keep their Tomcats still flying.
Magni56 1 year ago
@Magni56
Iran's AF is the equivalent of the Franklin county Civil Air Patrol. They have advanced anti-air missiles. Big whoop! They haven't had any air combat experience since 1984. Frankly, France could beat them.
DynamiteD5150 10 months ago
@DynamiteD5150
So? The French Airforce could beat about 90% of all contenders out there and give the remainder a pretty harsh fight. The Iranians just happen to be quite near the top of that 90%, what with having an actually quite nice arsenal and a track record of using it a darn sight better than most everyone in the region.
Magni56 10 months ago
Actually I was wrong, ur talking Super Hornet. The Super is comarable to the Eagle while the reg Hornet is comparable to the Viper. The F/A-18 Super Hornet is possible the most advanced carrier based plane to ever fly...until the F-35 gets introduced :/
ElPresidente101 4 years ago
UAV aka RPA. Remotely PILOTED Aircraft. A drone is a FULLY AUTONONOMOUS aircraft. Fully preprogramed. Preds are remotely PILOTED. People dont pilot drones.
kprc1987 3 years ago
@maddog2840 I'll take a manned aircraft over an unmanned one, limits the time between the pilots motions and the aircraft actually performing them, to well, damn near zero. And the eyes of a human and reaction time will always be better in reliability. As for the UAV, well, I'd say keep it in roles where a small aircraft can more easily slip in unnoticed, Or into places where a normal aircraft even at high altitudes would be in severe danger. But we should never replace all pilots with UAV's
apoco 1 year ago
good vid Lol. you guys dint seem happpy that soldier lives are saved by the uav method?? bit in humane of yous i guess.
p.s. the predator was shot down by a mig23 not a manpad.
dishan85 4 years ago