General Atomics To Build Drone Pilot Training Academy In North Dakota

An anonymous reader writes: General Atomics Aeronautical Systems plans to build a drone pilot training academy in the Grand Sky Unmanned Aerial Systems park just outside of Grand Forks Air Force Base. From UAS Magazine: "Hoeven made the official announcement about the San Diego-based General Atomics training academy at the Ninth Annual UAS Summit and Expo in Grand Forks, N.D., on Monday. General Atomics signed a 10-year-lease, Hoeven said, and plans to train 60 international flight crews annually. The flight crews will be from countries across the globe including the Netherlands, France and Italy, who come to the academy to fly Predator and Reaper drones, Hoeven said."

Nuclear.

[sims 2]

But will it be nuclear powered?

Empty

[Tablizer]

Who would want to build anything in N. Dakota; it's fly-over country......oh

Re:

[rossdee]

yeah theres no trees or hills to run into, ideal for low flying aircraft

Re:

[plover]

Actually, why do they need a physical facility at all? It's not like they go out and interact with the hardware. All they need is to ship a fancy chair to the Netherlands or wherever, and train them virtually.

It's a flight school. Big deal

[YrWrstNtmr]

Why is this h.... Oh wait...Drones.

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[tehcyder]

Why is this h.... Oh wait...Drones.

And no doubt they're building the facility on a 3D printer and financing it by Bitcoins.

Cue the Kenny Loggins Music!!

[waTeim]

Wherein the Maverick AI enabled drone shows real promise until he loses his SSD backup best friend in a freak accident sending him into a deep depression and bought of soul searching. But he pulls his shit together in the end and saves the day.

Yea, and let's throw some lasers in there too for good measure, and maybe aliens, not sure.

Nah, aliens.

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[turbidostato]

"Yea, and let's throw some lasers in there too for good measure"

Not shark-mounted though... this is North Dakota, remember?

"who come to the academy"

[PolygamousRanchKid]

Yes! The Academy, as in when Kirk says, "It was standard reading at The Academy". Maybe we'll finally find out what that reading is.

Of course, it might be boring, like "The Catcher in the Rye". But maybe it is some cool Kafka stuff.

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[Impy the Impiuos Imp]

Wasn't General Atomics the company Tom Swift's daddy owned?

"That'll get 'er," Tom Swift joysticked.

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[turbidostato]

"Yes! The Academy, as in when Kirk says, "It was standard reading at The Academy". Maybe we'll finally find out what that reading is. "

That's easy: their readings were the exact opposite to those of the arch-enemies' one... The Khan Academy!

brand naming revisit

[Tablizer]

If one inadvertently lands in a residential area, and they see the word "Atomics", they may not be very calm about it.

"Drone Operator", "Drone Monkey"...Pilot?

[zawarski]

... I don't think so.

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[Max_W]

A modern manned aircraft is a flying computer too. It may fly without a pilot if necessary. A pilot is needed so far however for legal purposes and to make passengers comfortable.

But as happened recently in Europe a pilot of a manned plane was a problem.

Wait, What?

[Greyfox]

There's a company called "General Atomics?" I've got to google their web page...

Their web page does not disappoint. [ga.com] I'll have to add a todo to search their careers page to see if they need any portal testers...

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[WallyL]

Wait, what? When I first visited that page [ga.com], I thought the tagline on the ticker read Global progress through technology. The world is over.

I've spent a few hours piloting Reapers

[Snotnose]

Maxed out the Modern Warfare 3 stat a year ago, think I called in 5,000 reapers. Can I skip the school and just get a job flying one?

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[Max_W]

Flying in a physical world is different from flying in a virtual world. There is no reset button. Service and maintenance of hardware are different too.

Training for murder

[fredrated]

Drone pilots are murderers pure and simple. Are their teachers accessories to murder?

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[Max_W]

You mean probably militry drones, because there are civil drones, whch actually participate in saving people say in disaster areas, making inspections of towers (instead of dangerous climbing), etc.

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[tehcyder]

You mean probably militry drones, because there are civil drones, whch actually participate in saving people say in disaster areas, making inspections of towers (instead of dangerous climbing), etc.

I think Predator and Reaper drones (as mentioned in TFS) are by definition military aren't they?

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[Max_W]

Sure. I think using military drones and robots in general should be banned by an international tretay. Besides, they create terrible image for us, who work with civil UAS, too, and by this impede acceptance and do a lot of harm to economy.