In the USA there is a plan to revolutionize training for piloting one of the most important vehicles on the battlefield. With one concern: risking losing current know-how by worsening security.
At the sight of the unmanned drone helicopter on board derived from the American Black-Hawk, here is the Panorama article (https://www.panorama.it/attualita/difesa-aerospazio/elicotteri-in-battaglia-senza-piloti-la-rivoluzione-del-drone-u-hawk-di-sikorsky) a senior officer, a flight instructor at an Army flight school, reportedly declared: “We’re done,” describing the reactions of his fellow student pilots. If on the one hand, the military is rushing to realize the promise of unmanned aircraft – with the availability of more platforms, with greater flexibility and less risk for crews, on the other, it is reducing the units that fly and keep the helicopters efficientmeans that have long been central to the way we fight.
Two concrete dangers
There are two danger factors: the first is that some pilots fear that their careers and skills will be lost in the transition; the second is that flying less and reducing training could increase safety risks. Finally, there are those who, bucking the trend, express optimism that the Army’s new training approach, managed by private contractors, will make tomorrow’s aviation community better than ever.
The US Army cuts 6,500 positions
The Pentagon has announced that over the next two years the US Army will cut 6,500 of its 30,000 soldiers on active duty in aeronautical specialties, mainly removing an air cavalry squadron from each active-duty brigade, as part of the effort to build “a leaner, more lethal force through the introduction of technology and the elimination of obsolete systems”as Secretary Dan Driscoll and General Randy George stated at the top of the Army last May. After all, not all helicopter pilots will automatically become drone pilots.
The future that flies alone
In the meantime at Sikorsky, manufacturer of the new heli-drone, doesn’t slow down: announced last week that it had taught a non-pilot soldier how to fly one of its autonomous flying vehicles. The non-commissioned officer oversaw a cargo mission of almost 150 km interacting with the software from a common tablet and it took him less than an hour to learn the program. It is difficult today to establish whether or not the future will include the complete transfer of refueling and air assault missions to unmanned aircraft, but the biggest challenge will certainly be integrating this technology to reduce risks to soldiers without losing the generational knowledge needed to pilot these complex systems.
The new private army flight school
Meanwhile, The U.S. Army is turning to the defense industry to find a way to transform its long-established basic helicopter training course into a new flight school modelowned by a contractor, called Flight School Next. This will offer a streamlined approach to training, develop better skills and save the military money. Impossible to hide that some pilots and former pilots are skeptical regarding this strategy, but they recognized that given the renewal of flight schools it represents an opportunity but also a necessity to make training more efficient and competitive.
An alarm bell
Finally, the terrible collision occurred on January 29 between an Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter and a commercial airliner near Washington has further increased checks on pilots in a context of increasing accident rates: in 2024 there were 17 fatal ones, the highest number since 2007. And investigations have repeatedly stated that the decline in pilot skills was a contributing factor. Just like the use of helicopters used to train new Army pilots since 2015, the Airbus UH-72 Lakota, do not allow you to practice what would be needed in certain emergency techniques, as they are twin-engined and therefore considered safe regardless.
The return to single-engine aircraft to train pilots
A fact for which schools are considering returning to single-engine trainers. For example, Leonardo and Boeing are collaborating to offer an innovative approach and turnkey using the Italian training helicopter AW-119TWhile Bell proposed his single-engine helicopter B-505 and the expert instructors at the Bell Training Academy in Fort Worth, Texas.
Certainly within a few years unmanned technology will evolve, but until they are completely replaced, Army aviators will have to ensure the best education and the highest safety. Factors that can only be obtained by continuing to fly. While slowly the same issue will have to be addressed by the Armed Forces around the world.
