Oops! Sir! The Big Airplane just knocked around my little one!

Why it Pays to Look Outside

While I know many of our readers don't personally fly airplanes, I think this little sequence gives you some idea why it's a good idea to look out the window every now and then. One of the best ways to bust a checkride is to not clear early and often. It also points to an issue that's been driving private aviators, military pilots, airline drivers and the FAA a little crazy lately.

This happened over Kabul, but it could have just as easily happened over LAX. Now, don't anybody panic...we're a long way from flailing around in the back of a 737 as the Captain dodges UAV swarms on short final to San Diego Int'l, but this is an issue that's getting attention in the industry.

Military guys have been looking at his for a while, since each Service is trying to advance organic ISR capabilities (organic=autonomous=good in most parochial eyes) [N.B. - if we'd share the info better, we might be less tempted to always have to have our own eyes... just sayin'. ed] and the ensuing traffic jams in the target area could present a threat to manned platforms operating therein. So far, however, it's not been a big deal but in the GWOT, I can foresee a lot of civilian and non-civilian mix as the former tries to run a business and the other tries to hunt down the domestic terrorist threat...all in the same general vicinity, if you're in a border state. Compound the problem of law enforcement getting new surveillance toys (UAVs) with their natural penchant for not taking to anybody about where they're being used (this is perfectly understandable-cops have OPSEC issues, too) and we start to see yet another challenge in homeland security.

Again, this is not something to lose sleep over (yet) but we would do well to pay attention.

Instapilot

*This is an operators-eye view of a near-miss of a UAV by a passenger a/c at Kabul Intl. In the last slide, the UAV has been knocked butt-over-end by the wake turbulence of the passenger jet.