I don’t know what your connection is between IQ and flying drones, or why you think that the appropriate IQs are not being chosen by all services except for the Air Force, to fly drones, or why you want to waste $700,000.00 to retrain a pilot who has had to first train to fly fighters, then train to sit at a desk and fly a drone, and then has to be detrained to go back to learning how to fly a fighter.
You now drag McCain into this? You seem to have some personal animosities and jealousies, that have nothing to do with the flying of drones.
When I look at a chick or guy who flies fighters, I think in terms of eyesight and other physical attributes as being what cause most people to be rejected for the job, not that they didn’t have the IQ.
Do you have any data showing that all the other services are wrong, and that the Air Force is right to be wasting all these millions and pilot man hours?
Do you realize that this Air Force only removed that “flight status” requirement, (the twisted ankle that even you agree is insane for a desk sitting computer screen driver) under pressure? In other words they made that argument as long as they could get away with it.
If you want crackerjack drone pilots, then get career full-timers, not part timers that bounce back and forth and have to be retrained each time, because the jobs are so different.
Is there a reason that you think that while you (the actual you) couldn’t fly aircraft for physical reasons, that you wouldn’t be a good candidate to go into a drone MOS?
For some reason, you have some weird ideas about IQ, high IQs are common enough in the military, and they are not the reason that people are asked to become officers.
For starters, most drones are slow-moving turboprops, not jets.
All I expressed is my opinion that it would be very beneficial for drone drivers to have some level of pilot certification and minimum number of hours flying, probably including IFR. There are a whole lot of levels below F-16 qualified that would satisfy that level!
The heavier, faster, more expensive and more dangerous a drone is, the greater the safety factor would be in having more “real” pilot certifications and hours, IMO. It is just my opinion.
There are lots of physical stresses that a real pilot must tolerate that a drone driver will never be subjected to, so requiring that level of physical fitness doesn't make sense.
I stand by my statements about flight training being traditionally reserved in the military not just for officers but for those officers who can score highest on tests that are the functional equivalent of IQ testing.