Air base visit demystifies Predator Drone for Calif. squadron

 

 

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Cadet 2nd Lt. Randall Ross and Cadet 1st Lt. Michael Chung (seated) get some piloting time on a Predator Drone simulator.

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Cadet Airman 1st Class Michael Wilson and Cadet Tech. Sgt.  Molly Boop enjoy a hands-on encounter with a Predator Drone.

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Cadet Tech. Sgt. Anna Boop tries out a Predator Drone simulator with guidance from Maj. Kristin Williams of the Predator Mission Aircrew Training System /

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Cadet Airman Basic Patrick Sanders checks out just how light a Predator Drone is.

Photos by Capt. Audrey DiGiantomasso
 
 
Capt. Audrey DiGiantomasso
Public Affairs Officer
Skyhawk Composite Squadron 47
California Wing
 
CALIFORNIA – News reports about Predator Drones in action in overseas mean much more to members of Skyhawk Composite Squadron 47 after to recent visit to March Air Reserve Base, where they not only learned about the aircraft’s capabilities and characteristics – and those of its new “big brother,” the Reaper -- but also got a chance to try out the simulator that pilots and operators train on.

The tour, hosted by Air Force National Guard Master Sgt. Kyran Ford of the 163rd Maintenance Group, featured four different sessions covering the mission of the Predator Drone.

First came “Predator 101,” presented by Tech. Sgt. Chris Brown, whose PowerPoint slide show explained all about the Predator Drone and the Reaper, the new drone that will be bigger, more powerful and have a wider mission. Brown covered both aricrafts’ abilities, weapon systems and dimensions and capacities.

For squadron members familiar with the origins of of Civil Air Patrol, a striking moment occurred during Brown’s briefing when a slide with a familiar face appeared – that of Gen. Hap Arnold, one of the organization’s founding father. 

Accompanying the image was a statement Arnold, by then a five-star general of the Army, made on V-J Day in August 1945:

“We have just won a war with a lot of heroes flying around in planes. The next war may be fought by airplanes with no men in them at all… Take everything you’ve learned about aviation in war, throw it out of the window, and let’s go to work on tomorrow’s aviation.  It will be different from anything the world has ever seen.”  

After the slide show, Brown answered some questions and then prepared his listeners for their next session: “Maintenance of the Predator Aircraft.”  That presentation included a visit to the maintenance bay area, where a Predator Drone was available for the cadets to closely explore, inside and out.
 
The training instructor, Tech. Sgt. Heath Branham, described how maintenance crews are trained and explained their duties. Branham also discussed what it takes to be one of the maintenance crew and how the Predator is constructed, how it works and the equipment it carries. 

He was available to answer questions and talk about the aircraft as cadets got the chance to pick up components and look inside and outside the Predator.
They were amazed at how little it weighed -- the average cadet could pick up the nose of the Predator and tip it up with no trouble. 

In addition, they were also able to examine a Predator’s engine -- one was featured in a separate display – and also got to check out the electronics associated with the Predator mission.  

After that the group continued to the control station briefing, presented by Master Sgt. Fred Robert, part of the team that helps train pilots and sensor operators. Robert explained how the pilots and sensor operators learn about how communications with the Predator aircraft works. 

The classroom was filled with simulators, and just outside were the antennas used to actually communicate with Predators flying around the world. 

Robert also discussed the control station and communication equipment used to fly the Predator. He told his audience that Predators are flown from bases in the U.S. by sending communication signals around the world.  Signals are sent from the U.S.  to facilities in Europe, then forwarded to where the Predator is flying — frequently in the Middle East.
 
Because of the distance the signal must travel, Robert said, a four-second delay separates the pilot’s or sensor operator’s command and the Predator’s reaction. As a result, the pilots and operators train with that delay in mind. 

Robert also addressed how the pilot and sensor operator work together to fly the Predator. The two must work as a team and learn to communicate between each other effectively in order to conduct a successful mission.

Robert then took the cadets out to the transmitting antennas and talked about how the different antennas work – an eye-opening presentation for most of the cadets, who weren’t acquainted with the principles involved.

Finally, the cadets were given the opportunity to use the actual simulators that Predator Drone pilots and sensor operators train on.  A Predator Mission Aircrew Training System pilot, Maj. Kristin Williams, was there to help guide the cadets through their turns on the simulators, which look a bit like really complicated video games.

Cadets sat down in teams of two, one functioning as pilot and the other as sensor operator. Before them were video screens where animated views of simulated towns were projected, just as a genuine pilot and system operator would see. The operator helped maneuver the simulated aircraft into position, and the pilot fired the simulated weapon.

The cadets sat down and with great confidence and took control of the simulators.
 
And then a funny thing happened … they found out it wasn’t as easy as it looked, and that a successful performance takes more than skill handling the joystick. Coordination, concentration, communication and teamwork are supremely important.

While cadets took their turns flying missions on the simulators, the rest of the CAP contingent was able to watch the action on a big screen in a nearby briefing room filled with screens broadcasting their colleagues’ actions as they flew through animated towns, picked targets and fired missiles via the simulators. Sometimes they hit what they were aiming for, but more often than not they missed. 

The cadets enjoyed critiquing their fellow rookie pilots’ skills nearly as much as they enjoyed their own time in the simulator.

By the time the visit ended, cadets and senior members alike realized that one of the least expected but most valuable aspects of the experience was the way that what they learned brought home  so much of CAP’s cadet aerospace education program.  From Hap Arnold’s prescience to the aerospace concepts the cadets learn from their Aerospace Modules, tests and activities, they witnessed real-world application and validation of  a wide range of concepts they were familiar with from CAP