Flying Predators

On Gizmodo is a video of the workstation the pilots of Predator Drones use.

The thing I noticed was the video screens.

To give the pilots a wider FOV, they layer the Predator's narrow FOV onto a 3 screen virtual display, synchronized to the plane's position and attitude.

The only unbelievable part is the poor quality of the VR. No doubt it was degraded for the purpose of making the video.

I've worked on trainers for the Predator. They looked nothing like that.

pwned.

To the untrained eye, it looks like some sort of mockup for the press. The fancy looking subtle lighting and designer seating. I bet the real things are a lot more utilitarian.

One of my brothers (the one in the fleet air arm) got to have a good shot of these. Says they are pretty good to fly, and although nowhere near as exciting as real flying, much higher chance of getting home for tea and crumpet