Midav
03-24-2006, 10:43 PM
Langley welcomes a chap from the R.A.F. to be the first non-U.S. pilot to train on the Air Force's newest fighter.
March 23, 2006
LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE -- When Dan Robinson climbed into the cockpit of one of Langley Air Force Base's F-22A Raptors, it was all he could do not to push every button inside.
"I was a kid again," Robinson said, in awe of a machine he'd dreamed of flying. "I wondered, What does this do? What does this, and this, and this do?"
The 29-year-old Royal Air Force flight lieutenant - a rank equivalent to a U.S. Air Force captain - will soon learn.
Robinson checked in at Langley this month as the first non-American pilot to train on the U.S. Air Force's newest supersonic stealth fighter.
Last year, when Robinson's unit commanders announced that the United States was offering an exchange program on the Raptor, "every man - and their dog, and their wife, and their cat - applied for it," he said.
Pilots around the world, Robinson said, had been keenly watching as the new fighter came online, arriving first at Langley.
"We are never going to do anything by ourselves as a military," said Brig. Gen. Burton M. Field, commander of Langley's 1st Fighter Wing. "Militaries work with other militaries. And since we have to do that, these kind of exchange programs give both militaries a chance to see how each other works."
The program marries the two militaries together so much, in fact, that Robinson now walks around Langley in a U.S. flight suit - his rank, name tag and accent the only giveaway to his British background.
Field said Robinson will receive the same training as every new Raptor pilot.
Rest @ http://www.dailypress.com/news/local/dp-91777sy0mar23,0,5113911.story?coll=dp-news-local-final
March 23, 2006
LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE -- When Dan Robinson climbed into the cockpit of one of Langley Air Force Base's F-22A Raptors, it was all he could do not to push every button inside.
"I was a kid again," Robinson said, in awe of a machine he'd dreamed of flying. "I wondered, What does this do? What does this, and this, and this do?"
The 29-year-old Royal Air Force flight lieutenant - a rank equivalent to a U.S. Air Force captain - will soon learn.
Robinson checked in at Langley this month as the first non-American pilot to train on the U.S. Air Force's newest supersonic stealth fighter.
Last year, when Robinson's unit commanders announced that the United States was offering an exchange program on the Raptor, "every man - and their dog, and their wife, and their cat - applied for it," he said.
Pilots around the world, Robinson said, had been keenly watching as the new fighter came online, arriving first at Langley.
"We are never going to do anything by ourselves as a military," said Brig. Gen. Burton M. Field, commander of Langley's 1st Fighter Wing. "Militaries work with other militaries. And since we have to do that, these kind of exchange programs give both militaries a chance to see how each other works."
The program marries the two militaries together so much, in fact, that Robinson now walks around Langley in a U.S. flight suit - his rank, name tag and accent the only giveaway to his British background.
Field said Robinson will receive the same training as every new Raptor pilot.
Rest @ http://www.dailypress.com/news/local/dp-91777sy0mar23,0,5113911.story?coll=dp-news-local-final