Also, for those that subscribe to New Scientist there is an interesting article on the psychological work load that drone pilots undergo. They specifically cite to the MQ1-B, but I suspect the cognitive workload for a single operator C8 is going to be fairly similar.... http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21729012.200-drone-school-not-a-cushy-number.html -- but you need to be a subscriber to read it as it's in the recent issue. "Although there's significant variation between individuals, they found that nearly half the drone pilots reported high stress and burnout. This was primarily due to long, overloaded work hours and excessive stimuli and information competing for their attention." Clearly, the MQ1-B guys have additional powerful stressors, but... "It's not a training issue," says James Szalma at the University of Central Florida in Orlando. "The human cognitive system simply has limits." When on a mission, the two-person team of pilot and sensor operator will be under extreme pressure while monitoring targets, analysing images, texting and talking on the radio with people on the ground, juggling orders, and flying the plane, all while being responsible for the lives of other soldiers and civilians.""The ability to juggle many simultaneous tasks differs from person to person. "What's interesting is it can be depleted when we're stressed or tired," says Stanley. "It's like a credit bank." When the combination of tasks and stressors becomes too much, the person fails at all the tasks."It's not a graceful degradation," says Peter Hancock, also at the University of Central Florida. "They just fall off the table top."This phenomenon has been best studied in air-traffic controllers, who might monitor 10 or more planes on their screen at once. When a critical number of planes are present, even these highly trained professionals become overloaded and the whole mental model of the airspace they've built up collapses. Shaun: Comments welcome if you feel so disposed.... What can we learn from this? Andy.