Comment by openasocket

This is probably part of the reason why the USAF is leaning so hard towards unmanned systems in the future, because it opens up a lot of doors here. Drone pilots can be put pretty much anywhere in the world so they don't need to be forward-deployed, which will probably help attract people. The physical standards can be strongly relaxed, no need to worry about eyesight or their ability to handle 8Gs, which increases the pool of possible pilots. You can to some degree "oversubscribe" and have fewer pilots than aircraft (alternatively, fewer pilots on shift, meaning pilots don't have to work as many hours), since not all of your planes will be in the air at once. Some of the more mundane tasks can be automated or distributed (maybe have air traffic controllers control taxiing, takeoff and landing directly?) like in-air refueling. It's not a panacea, and there are missions drones will not be able to do anytime soon, but I imagine it will help with the pilot shortfall.