Air Force works to fill need for drone pilots

By LOLITA C. BALDOR

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — At the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, becoming a fighter pilot is still a hotly coveted goal.

But slowly, a culture change is taking hold.

Initially snubbed as second-class pilot-wannabes, the airmen who remotely control America’s arsenal of lethal drones are gaining stature and securing a permanent place in the Air Force.

Drawn to the flashy drone strikes that have taken out terrorists including al-Qaida leader Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen to the terror group’s No. 2 strongman Abu Yahya al-Libi in Pakistan, airmen are beginning to target unmanned aircraft as their career of choice.

It’s a far cry from the grumbling across the air corps a few years ago when Air Force leaders — desperate to meet the rapidly escalating demand for drones — began yanking fighter pilots out of their cockpits and placing them at the remote controls of unmanned Predators and Reapers.

http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/air-force-works-to-1495072.html