Drone pilots found to develop stress disorders as much as combat pilots do
Air Force officials and independent experts have suggested several potential causes, among them witnessing combat violence on live video feeds, working in isolation or under inflexible shift hours, juggling the simultaneous demands of home life with combat operations and dealing with intense stress because of crew shortages.
“Remotely piloted aircraft pilots may stare at the same piece of ground for days,” said Jean Lin Otto, an epidemiologist who was a co-author of the study. “They witness the carnage. Manned aircraft pilots don’t do that. They get out of there as soon as possible.”
Dr. Otto said she had begun the study expecting that drone pilots would actually have a higher rate of mental health problems because of the unique pressures of their job…
The Air Force has also conducted research into the health issues of drone crew members. In a 2011 survey of nearly 840 drone operators, it found that 46 percent of Reaper and Predator pilots, and 48 percent of Global Hawk sensor operators, reported “high operational stress.” Those crews cited long hours and frequent shift changes as major causes.
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Blake on February 23, 2013 at 11:34 AM
“Executive Monkey Syndrome” from UW Madison research.
Give them their medals and respect as the others and be done with it.
Shaughnessy on February 23, 2013 at 11:56 AM
seems to agree w/ the idea that ptsd has more to do w/ our civilian culture, or our culture as a whole, than it does with military duty.
Steven McGregor on February 23, 2013 at 12:22 PM
air force research is suspect anyway. some strange thinking in there.
Steven McGregor on February 23, 2013 at 12:25 PM
When one was a bomber in WW2 where you where stationed in the back of the B-29 and never saw where you are going other then a small scope that looks down. When you leave you are coming from a base well in friendly territory. After a long trip all you see is the land you are targeting the bombs with a small scope and drop the bomb and then go home to the safe base.
Flying a drone is as well everyone knows like a video game. When you watch the screen you are not mentally still in Virgina or Arizona any more you are in Afghanistan. Just because you can unplug from the game does not mean in does not happen.
tjexcite on February 23, 2013 at 12:34 PM
“High operational stress”. Hmmmm…. I wonder if any of those drone operators have anything appropriate to which to compare their level of “operational stress”? (Vs. an air to mud guy actually in theater.) I’m betting that’s part of the problem.
There is also, however, the problem of jerking around their schedules. I met some commanders who could get by on a half hour sleep a night, and gave no thought to their crews swapping from day to night work from day to day – yes, not week to week, but from day to day. In theater, a commander doing that would get sent home in no time. Stateside, not so much.
GWB on February 23, 2013 at 1:51 PM