Being 22 and flying a F-22

Wow, so cool. I rarely hear about anything positive from today's young people but this I like.


October 31, 2008 08:06:00 PM
TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE — Four fighter pilots have carved their names into the Air Force's F-22 program.

Saturday night they will graduate as the Air Force's first pilots trained exclusively to fly the world's most advanced fighter.

The four students - 1st Lt. Austin B. Skelley, 1st Lt. Ryan Shelhorse, 1st Lt. Dan Dickenson and Capt. Marcus McGinn - arrived at Tyndall Air Force Base last February for the first F-22 "basic course."

Prior to their arrival, only experienced pilots who distinguished themselves on other fighter platforms were selected to transfer to the F-22. Creation and implantation of the basic course, an effort spearheaded by the 43rd Fighter Squadron and Lockheed Martin, is one of the most tangible steps toward bringing the F-22 program in line with the Air Force's other fighters.

Now F-22 pilots will be chosen just like pilots for any of the other fighter systems.

But training young F-22 pilots comes with a challenge all its own.

Unlike the F-15 and F-16, the Air Force's primary fighter jets, there is no room in the jam-packed F-22 for a second seat. When a student pilot takes an F-22 in to the air for the first time, there is no second set of experienced hands on board.

"Was there any apprehension? That's the understatement of the year," said Lt. Col. Tom "House" Kafka. "You now take a bunch of lieutenants, 22, 23, 24 years old and you hand them the keys to a $200 million dollar fighter, and the first time they're going to fly it they're solo."

Before the students set foot in an F-22 cockpit they have been in training for nearly two years. They begin with a T-6 "Texan II" and progress through to the T-38 "Talon." Then the students moved to Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada for the newly developed Raptor lead-in program, a training program that places b-course pilots in the cockpit of a two-seat F-16.

Next, the pilots move to Tyndall and begin a rigorous academics and simulator course. After completing that training, they move on to fly actual missions in the F-22. And even with two years of extensive training, the four are still considered inexperienced pilots.

"The good news of that is they don't have any bad habit patterns from other airplanes. The bad news of that is they don't have an experience base to draw on," said Lt. Col. Derek "Trapper" France, commander of the 43rd Fighter Squadron. "These first four, especially, went through quite a crucible of training and evaluation. They've been under the microscope for a long time."

First Lt. Ryan "Faux" Shelhorse, one of the students who will graduate to today, said his father was an Air Force pilot, and continuing the family fighter jock tradition is the fulfillment of a life long dream.

Shelhorse, a 2005 Air Force Academy graduate, was married last week and after graduation will join the F-22 squadron at Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska. He described the experience as "outstanding" and "world-class."

After what he said was "a long two and a half years," he quickly zeroed in on his favorite moment.

"Probably coming back after landing from my first ride and seeing my fiancée there with the whole squadron to meet us," he said. "It was pretty something special, you know. Just because you'd worked so hard to get to that point. And to be given that opportunity - it's a blessing and we really do appreciate it."

There were challenges for the veteran pilots as well. A syllabus and training regiment was created largely from scratch for the basic course. Instructors like Kafka, who spent years training new students to fly the F-15 at Tyndall, worked with civilians to construct a viable training program for the fighter.

http://www.newsherald.com/news/new_69311___article.html/pilots_air.html

 

Too bad the 32nd TFS doesn't fly anymore. If they did you know the F-22 would be at Soesterberg.

 

I spent many Friday and Saturday nights (and Sunday afternoons) at Café Lambik in Zeist. Sure do miss it.

Gezellig!

http://www.cafelambikzeist.nl/