Current drones cost $1 million apiece and up. Whereas a two place light plane, say a Cessna 172, can be had for closer to $100 K. Drones and light planes are about the same in range, payload, speed, anything that counts. Drone pilots only get to see a TV image (blurry, low res, low contrast, small screen). Light plane pilots get to see up close, in real time, and with a pair of 7X50's, they can see really close up.
The only justification of the pricey drones is for operation in dangerous air space. When a drone gets shot down we don't loose a pilot. But for missions like patrolling the US border, reconning hurricane damage in Florida, looking for marijuana grows in California, we don't expect hostile ground fire or shoulder fired SAMs. A plain old Cessna works better and costs a tenth of what a drone costs.
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