Abstract: A ground control station to control an unmanned air vehicle during a manual mode of operation includes a processing unit, a telemetry/telecommand module, a user control module, a graphical user interface, and a wireless datalink subsystem. The wireless datalink subsystem is configured for remote communication with the unmanned air vehicle. The telemetry/telecommand module is coupled to the ground control station and is configured to download onboard data from the unmanned air vehicle to the ground station, and further is configured to upload commands from the ground station to the unmanned air vehicle. The graphical user interface includes a display module that is configured to display a plurality of downloaded UAV onboard data. The user control module is coupled to the ground control station to implement user control of a plurality of control surfaces of the unmanned air vehicle during manual mode operation of said UAV via said processing unit.