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Georgian teaches pilots who never leave ground(Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Jul. 2--Ryan Evans was 9 years old, walking through Toys "R" Us with his dad, when he spotted the remote-control airplane that redirected his life. "My birthday was coming up," said Evans, now 26. "I knew right then and there that I wanted that foam model more than anything else in the world." The birthday gift had the potential to grow into a hobby -- something Evans and his dad might enjoy together. But it's become much more than that. Evans now teaches U.S. Marines, soldiers and sailors to fly high-tech Unmanned Aerial Vehicles on reconnaissance and attack missions around the world. His graduates are in high demand in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Georgia Southern University grad also sees broad commercial applications for UAVs and hopes to explore those markets. "I'd like to start a civilian UAV corporation at some point," said Evans, of Macon, who currently works for a military contractor in Florida. "There's going to be a tremendous need for civilian UAVs. As much as I enjoy flying them, I also like designing them and selling them and teaching others to operate them." While nonmilitary use of UAVs is just beginning, aviation experts predict tremendous growth in such aircraft for scientific research, law enforcement and commerce. Government agencies plan to use UAVs to study the Earth's atmosphere, track hurricanes, monitor borders and patrol sea lanes. Law enforcement officials want to use UAVs to find marijuana fields and track suspects. And private firms have proposed using them for aerial photography, mapping, and monitoring pipelines and electical wires. The biggest hurdle, for now, is figuring out how to fly UAVs safely in busy domestic airspace. UAVs vary in size from just a few pounds to more than 20,000 pounds with broad ranges of speeds and altitudes. Some are programmed to fly certain routes, while others are controlled by operators at computer screens who can instantly alter their course and communicate with air traffic controllers. The FAA has formed a "program office" to write UAV regulations, but agency officials say final rules are likely several years away. Jeff Bauer, a NASA manager who used the agency's UAVs to collect environmental data, compared today's UAVs to manned aircraft at the early part of the 20th century. "We're in much the same place as the decade after the Wright brothers," Bauer said. "UAVs are an emerging market, and there's a great variety of different designs and a vast amount of potential. But what of this vast spectrum will catch on is unknown and unknowable." Bauer said most of the technical issues involving UAV airframes, propulsion and computerized control systems are well understood -- and the biggest barriers are regulatory. "The question of how to share the national airspace system with piloted aircraft gets quite emotional," he said. "No one wants to introduce anything that will compromise safety." Randy Kenagy, senior director for advanced technology at the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, says the FAA should bar UAVs from domestic skies until the agency regulates UAVs and their operators as thoroughly as manned aircraft and pilots. "Our members are concerned about unmanned aircraft and midair collisions," Kenagy said. "Will they have the ability to see and avoid other aircraft? What happens when a ground operator loses control? We want them to meet the same safety standards as manned aircraft." At a military airfield near Pensacola, Fla., however, Evans teaches his students to fly UAVs while traditional manned aircraft take off and land on an adjacent concrete strip. Old-fashioned landings Evans teaches them to fly 450-pound UAVs known as Pioneers and powered by 26-horsepower snowmobile engines. Although capable of flying beyond visual range, Pioneers and many other current military UAVs must take off and land pretty much the old-fashioned way -- with an operator beside the runway watching with his or her own eyes and commanding the UAV through a set of remote controls. The laconic Evans says he teaches in much the same way he learned to fly as a fledgling member of a local model airplane club. A more experienced flier standing next to him operated a "buddy box," a set of remote controls that would let him override the beginner's mistakes at a moment's notice. Evans was 11 years old when he began flying the more complex models, and it took "three or four weekends" with a mentor until he could consistently avoid crashing. A few years later, Evans began practicing loops and rolls and built a model designed for aerobatic contests. He refined his technique through high school and college and eventually placed 10th in an international competition in 2003 -- his best result. He also developed aerobatic displays for air shows and performs in half a dozen events throughout the Southeast each summer. Familiar tryout But what began as a diversion turned into a profession two years ago when Evans went to Florida to try out as a UAV instructor. His tryout was remarkably similar to the informal flying he had done for years at model airplane fields around the state. A military UAV was airborne, and the operator handed him the control box. "He said, 'Here you go,'?" Evans recalls. "Then he told me to do a touch-and-go, then cut the engine and land without power. The response is a little slower, but other than that it handles pretty well." Evans also earned Federal Aviation Administration private and instrument ratings for "real" airplanes -- a requirement for operating some of the larger, highflying UAVs. The military typically sends those aircraft all over the world -- but operators control them via satellite links from computer screens in California or Nevada. Some missions can last more than 24 hours and require multiple ground-based crews. Evans works for Cubic Corp., a California firm, and said UAV instructors typically earn between $80,000 and $120,000 annually. He's engaged to be married in the fall. Most of Evans' students are Marines and sailors, and they're under pressure to graduate quickly so they can apply their new skills in Iraq and Afghanistan. "They have a set number of hours to get through the program, and you want all of them to make it," Evans said. "Some of them don't, and that's hard. You want them all to succeed." Evans said the military has a shortage of qualified UAV operators, and the demand for battlefield intelligence is increasing as U.S. forces come to rely on the timely information that UAVs can provide. "They're flying all the time over there, and they're doing some amazing things," Evans said. "They're doing a real service for the country." |