A love/hate relationship with certain words is possibly an occupational haz­ard for those in the word-wrangling profession. I have a weird distaste for the word “remote,” which might seem even more strange in view of the way I gleefully use the “Home” app on my iPhone to remotely (ahem) control virtually every light in my house. So why do I cringe to read about “remote” employees and, yes, “remote” pilots? Let me explain. 

What’s in a Name? 

According to the dictionary, the word “remote” means “having very little connection with or relationship to” something. When it comes to school, work, or flying aircraft, though, using “remote” because of physical distance is at best misleading. Years ago, I earned a graduate degree as a “remote” student. It was convenient to attend class from home and on my sched­ule, but I quickly learned the truth in the wry observation that clicks are much tougher than bricks. When I took face-to-face college courses, I simply went to class, took notes on the lecture, nodded to my classmates, and dashed off to the next one. In the “clicks” environment, though, I had far more connection and relationship to school because it took a lot more time and active effort to participate at all — never mind the time for all the reading and homework. Having been a “remote” employee (full-time tele­work) for several years, I knew even before COVID-19 forced telework on everyone that it requires more effort — not to mention more hours — to stay in the loop. Modern communica­tion technologies — Zoom meeting, anyone? — keep us more connected than ever. That’s why I shun the use of “remote” to describe full-time telework in favor of more accurate terms like “distributed” or “virtual” workforce. 

Words Matter 

It doesn’t really work to say that a drone pilot is a “distributed” pilot, and we are probably stuck with the official certification title of “remote” pilot. My hope, though, is that we don’t fall into the trap of thinking that pilot­ing a drone is a distant, no-brainer kind of activity. Since we debuted the Drone Debrief department in FAA Safety Briefing a few years ago, I have learned that drone flying is anything but simple. Just like traditional pilots, drone pilots have to understand their aircraft — what it can do, and what is beyond its performance capabilities. Drone pilots have to have knowledge of airspace, weather, and operating rules. They must have skill in oper­ating the drone. I haven’t done much drone flying, but I have done enough to know that it’s a lot harder than it looks. In some cases, especially for the more sophisticated drone operations, the drone pilot has complex crew resource management (CRM) respon­sibilities for a multi-member crew. 

As you have read in these pages, the proliferation of drones and other new technologies has also required the development of new, more sophisti­cated traffic management technologies and procedures. So called “remote” pilots need to be closely dialed in to what that emerging technology will (and won’t) do. The evolving regu­latory structure is another challenge requiring the drone pilot’s close and continuing attention. 

Bottom line: there is nothing “remote” about safely piloting a drone, and all pilots would do well to stay closely connected to everything it takes to excel at our aircraft flying craft. (FAA Safety Briefing – MayJun 2021)