Tag Archives: f-35

F-35 Training Units Stand Up

An Air Force Times article highlights the progress in standing up the multi-service training units for the F-35 Lightning II at Eglin AFB, which is scheduled to begin this fall with the arrival of the first F-35 in November.

For the record, the F-35 variants have taken their first flights in only the past few months.  The 200 “instructors” cited in the article (which may include maintainers) haven’t logged a single hour in an actual aircraft.

No worries, though; according to the wing vice commander, Marine Col Arthur Tomassetti, the training shouldn’t be too difficult:  Read more

Fighter Pilots: “Joy-Riding Flyboys”

In editorial discussions in Arizona about the future of Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, locals parried over the possibility of the F-35 being stationed in the area.  The “discussion” demonstrated the continuing public stereotype of fighter pilots.  Said one letter writer to the Arizona Daily Star:

Basing the F-35 Air Force jet in Tucson is a very bad idea. Tucson is an asset to all of Arizona because it attracts quality, high-tech, tax-positive industry…Tucson is the jewel of Arizona. A deafening noise from joy-riding flyboys will do more economic harm than whatever modest benefit these flyboys will bring to the local bars. (emphasis added)

Interestingly, subsequent writers responded in defense of military fighter pilots, decrying the “generalization” of fighter pilots:  Read more

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