When the Navy opens a preliminary training pipeline for the unmanned Fire Scout helicopter, enlisted sailors will be at the controls. The Navy will begin with a senior chief aviation electronics technician and an air traffic controller fresh out of “A” school. The Navy plans to scrutinize their performance and consider whether to open the door for more sailors to join the field. Starting in October, the sailors will undergo the same Fire Scout training provided earlier to a cadre of rated helicopter pilots. By early next year, they will join a detachment from Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron Light 42 on a counter-drug deployment to South America on the frigate USS McInerney. (Source: Navy Times, 08/15/09) Gulf Coast note: Fire Scouts are built in part in Moss Point, Miss.
