Chat Up a Hurricane-Hunting Drone Pilot

drone-pilot-posada-100922 — Hey mister! That plane's not gonna fly itself! Or is it? Ask NASA drone pilot Herman Posada tomorrow. (Image credit: NASA/Tony Landis.)

If you've ever wondered what it's like to send an enormous machine streaking through the skies with the mere touch of a button, now you can find out.

Well, OK, flying a NASA drone is probably a little more complicated than that, but if you want the inside scoop on how it's really done, ask a man who does it for a living.

Posada, a research pilot at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, in Edwards, Calif., will be available for a web conversation tomorrow afternoon. He flies Ikhana, an unmanned Predator B craft modified for non-military missions, and NASA's Global Hawk unmanned aircraft, a vessel that's been busy flying into hurricanes this season.

This link will go live at 2:30 p.m. ET tomorrow (Sept. 23), and the conversation gets started half an hour later.

Image Gallery: Unique Aircraft

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