Maybe a drone pilot who uses a drone to do operations remotely would earn that. But you would also need a MD diploma.

[h=1]Air Force Selects First Enlisted Airmen for Pilot Training Since WWII[/h]http://www.military.com/daily-news/2...ning-wwii.html

These guys won't make anymre than their rank and time in grade pay. They may be able to seek employment as a Drone Pilot after they leave the service. Who Knows.

This drone explodes mid air in front of a large crowd......

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yf_QTbDeWM

Beat me to it Tim...saw that this morning! Oh man what a shame! I know there are bigger turbines out there (the Vulcan and the 747's) but my god this one was huge and looked like it just hung in the air. Loved the livery too.

There's money in it, for sure. I was at the NEAT Fair this past weekend and ran into a fellow that used to fly at our field. His name is Eric Maglio...the guy is an absolute genius. 8 years ago this guy (actually pretty young) was doing amazing stuff with building and UAS type of flying, in fact at one of our shows we featured him and his friend flying demos with hoods covering their heads, and he went into the woods looking for lost planes, and found some! Anyway, check out this project he worked on at school:

http://www.flitetest.com/articles/no...b-design-build

He's got some Youtube videos of this aircraft flying. That project got him an immediate job offer from Northrup Grumman right out of school in 2014. Since then he has started his own company primarily designing and building UAV aircraft for commercial and industrial use. There's money in them thar hills, that's for sure!

Fox ran the video this morning on their morning show. More positive press.

Ya...for the folks in Germany.

And what are regulators, public officials, and policy makers here in the US seeing in that video?

- Potential danger to constituents?
- Need for regulation?
- "What if" that landed in the crowd?
- Etc.?

Looked to me like they followed rules and that is why it did not land in the crowd.

That was my take-away. Pilots were following the accepted safety protocol, had an accident, and nobody was hurt.

Maybe we should just make a rule that bans all accidents and crashes, that would solve all of this safety consternation.

astro

The video is edited at around 1:42, so you don't see the entire turn, but if it breaks up while the velocity vector is pointed toward the crowd, then the debris would certainly continue along that path - toward people.

Thankfully this didn't happen here in the states.

The debris did not go that far forward and the model was much further out during the turn, so that is certainly wrong.

I defer to your extensive accident investigation expertise, aeronautical engineering prowess, and expert observation.

Yep. All it takes is one

Chances are even if someone at that level is watching this video....they probably aren't panicking and immediately thinking about the need for regulation (since that's already in place). I also doubt the are going right to Defcon 1 panic mode "what if" thinking. Show me a regulation that can absolutely preclude accidents 100% of the time, and I'll show you a regulation that grounds all aircraft. :) Wonder what the same group of folks were thinking when the Blue Angles pilot crashed, and recently was blamed for the crash. Those Navy pilots have been crashing a lot this year...don't they follow safety protocols? Point is of course, accidents happen.

But yours is a good hypothetical question, but why not ask this of someone who deals with this type of scenario in the jet events he promotes. Safety is an ongoing point of discussion for you, why not ask Tiano about it. He answered your questions about Muncies money and the MA magazine.

Can you show me an airshow that doesn't have an aircraft pointed at the crowd at some point?

There's no mystery edit...you saw what we all saw...an aircraft heading right down the runway that started a roll, and the stab came off, then the plane came apart. The parts fell past the runway, opposite of where the spectators were. Well, come to think of it, I didn't see any spectators, so perhaps it wasn't a successful event and folks were not really in any danger. Did you listen to the video though, and the comments about the pilot and the aircraft needing specific licenses/certifications? Do you have a specific or realistic way to stop these type of accidents 100% of the time?

Real subtle, that whole air up there on the high horse comment from the past comes to mind eh, lol? As if one needs any of those things to comment on what they saw. #allopinionsmatter

And yet, we've had far more than one here, and what has happened as a result of it? The last one you were involved with and questioning had to do with a turbine jet crashing and spewing fuel all over people and requiring emergency medical care. Did you ever get the answers you were looking for on that event?

Has anything changed since then?

What can I say? I am a professional!

You are in my book! You deserve an adorned shirt and lapel pin...where can I sent them to? :)

16 Apr 2016 - "...should we look at mass times velocity, energy potential..."

16 Jul 2016 - "...they will work on the rules compliance issue..."

Don't look now, but there's attention on the issue. The kinetic energy suggestion was one I made over a year ago. It's now being discussed as a methodology. Of course some is brought on by a lack of rule compliance and unwillingness to self police, both issues I also pointed out as weaknesses a while back.

Go figure, one of the candidates for President actually put this in the record: "...we don’t want to call attention to numbers; there could be unintended consequences."

Worst part is, in that video, there was nothing around it to cause it to break up like that. If it had collided with another plane, it would have been understandable. To just have a catastrophic structural failure like that, however, goes back to the person that actually assembled the parts or laid them up if it was fiberglass

Yes, I remember that issue being brought up.

But go figure, a candidate for president has been deeply involved in this specific activity, and may have even been the point of that discussion, you know, about lack of safety and compliance and most importantly an unwillingness to police themselves. When afforded an opportunity to question him on that issue that is so vitally important to you, an issue you've talked about for years now, you went with a question about magazine subscriptions. Kinetic energy, accidents involving burning flesh and trips to the ER, a lack of accountability for accidents, or questions about magazine subscriptions?

Agree. The plane started to roll right, then slewed for a second, then off came the stab, then it was all over. The way the rest of it came apart was odd too, it literally shredded apart. It didn't look like it was hauling that fast, but then again it's so big it's harder to judge the speed, and if that played a role. As I noted earlier, the announcer mentioned the fact that the plane had to be certified, as well as the pilot in order to fly. A heartbreaking loss for sure.

Or maybe the individual who certified the aircraft should be at least partially responsible/accountable? Maybe the certification process should be reviewed?

Too many unknowns to make a determination with any certainty, but from what I saw, that structural failure/weakness should probably have been spotted as part of the airframe certification process.

Astro