Col Mike Brill to break 6000 Flt Hrs mark

[Asif]

Fighter pilot poised to set world record
By Steve Fidel
Deseret News
Published: Friday, April 25, 2008 1:11 a.m. MDT


Utah fighter pilot Col. Mike Brill is poised to set yet another world record next week when he is expected to become the only pilot to reach 6,000 flying hours in an F-16.

He will likely cross that threshold Tuesday in a scheduled combat mission out of Balad Airbase in Iraq.

Brill is the most experienced F-16 pilot among the 24 countries that fly the multi-role fighter, a distinction he has held since he was the first American fighter pilot, in 1993, to reach 3,000 hours.

F-16 pilots keep track of their peers on the Web site www.f-16.net, which gives a clear picture of the life span of a career F-16 fighter pilot. The site lists 2,385 pilots in the 1,000-hour club and 538 in the 2,000-hour club. From there the decline in flying time is quite steep: only 21 throughout the flying forces of the world have reached 4,000 hours, and only one other pilot, also an American, will be in the 5,000-hour category once Brill hits the 6K mark.

Brill is a full-time fighter pilot with the Air Force Reserve's 419th Fighter Wing at Hill Air Force Base. He has been deployed in Iraq since March 2007 and is expected to return home in May.

Eric Hehs, the "Code One" magazine editor for Lockheed-Martin, which built the F-16, said a uniform patch designates pilots' flying hours once they reach each benchmark of 1,000 hours. A 6,000-mile patch doesn't yet exist, he said, since no one has ever logged that many hours in an F-16.
Brill graduated top in his class at the Air Force Academy and began flying F-16s in 1980 when he was a member of the active-duty 388th Fighter Wing, also at Hill.

"It's fun being king of the hill," he told the Deseret News in 1996, when his flying hours, the world record then, were at 3,629. "To be able to tell people you're unique in the world is really special."

When he hit 5,000 hours in 2002, he called himself "fortunate."

"The fact that I've been able to stay in the cockpit this long really is a case of being in the right place at the right time."

source: http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695273704,00.html

[Jon]

That is amazing, I stil don't have the 4000 and 5000 hours patch in my collection.

[Purplehaze]

All I can say is wow.......and Good job!

[JochemP]

Congrats, Col. Brill. From 1980 to 2008 like he said: being at the right place at the right time. Cheers

[J.J.]

He surpassed the 6,000 hours milestone today!

Posted to this site as Air Force pilot breaks own world aviation record

Source: http://www.balad.afnews.af.mil/news/sto ... =123096941[/quote]

Some of the associated photos - For hi-res versions see: http://www.balad.afnews.af.mil/news/sto ... =123096941

Lt. Col. Michael Brill, a 421st EFS pilot, and wingman Brig. Gen. Burt Field, 332nd AEW commander, listen to an intelligence brief before flying a combat mission over Iraq at Balad AB on May 2nd, 2008. On that day Colonel Brill broke his own world record for hours spent flying the F-16 when he surpassed the 6,000 hours milestone. [USAF photo by SrA. Julianne Showalter]

Lt. Col. Michael Brill, a 421st EFS pilot, prepares to don his helmet before flying a combat mission over Iraq at Balad AB on May 2nd, 2008. On that day Colonel Brill broke the world record he previously set for F-16 flying hours when he surpassed the 6,000 hours milestone. [USAF photo by SrA. Julianne Showalter]

Lt. Col. Michael Brill, a 421st EFS pilot, speaks with Chief Master Sgt. John Tomsick, 332nd EAMXS, 421st AMU, before flying a combat mission over Iraq at Balad AB on May 2nd, 2008. On that day Colonel Brill broke the world record he previously set for F-16 flying hours when he surpassed the 6,000 hours milestone. [USAF photo by SrA. Julianne Showalter]

Lt. Col. Michael Brill, a 421st EFS pilot, climbs into F-16C block 40 #88-0466 (marked 466TH FS) from the 4th FS before flying a combat mission over Iraq at Balad AB on May 2nd, 2008. On that day Colonel Brill broke the world record he previously set for F-16 flying hours when he surpassed the 6,000 hours milestone. [USAF photo by SrA. Julianne Showalter]

Lt. Col. Michael Brill, a 421st EFS pilot, is congratulated by his wingman, Brig. Gen. Burt Field, 332nd AEW commander, after the colonel successfully completed more than 6,000 flying hours in an F-16 during an OIF combat mission at Balad AB on May 2nd, 2008. [USAF photo by SrA. Julianne Showalter]

The related aircraft pictures I will also upload but post to the Balad topic.

Congrats, "Brillo"!

[Jon]

Congratulations Michael!

[LinkF16SimDude]

Now for the REALLY important part: The patch, man!....show us the 6K patch!

[Asif]

:salute:

Now for the REALLY important part: The patch, man!....show us the 6K patch!

As I understand its still in the making.

[Asif]

Hill F-16 pilot sets record for high mileage

In the skies over Iraq, he reaches milestone of 6,000 hours in a Falcon
By Matthew D. LaPlante
The Salt Lake Tribune

Article Last Updated: 05/03/2008 03:29:08 AM MDT

Mike Brill first lowered himself into the cockpit of an F-16 fighter jet at Hill Air Force Base just days after Ronald Reagan defeated Jimmy Carter for the presidency of the United States. It was a time in which America was locked into its long, cold war with the Soviet Union - a war few believed was nearing its end.

Twenty-eight years later, Brill is still flying the Air Force's workhorse fighter jet - but in a war much different than the one for which he was originally trained to fight. Brill, who has more time in the Fighting Falcon's cockpit than any pilot in the world, surpassed 6,000 F-16 flight hours today during a combat mission over Iraq.

The 50-year-old fighter pilot, a member of Hill's 419th Fighter Wing, said he may not have made it that long if the world hadn't kept changing - and the Falcon with it.

"Part of why I continue to find this job so challenging is that you can't rest on your laurels for a minute," Brill said from Balad Air Base, in northern Iraq, shortly after surpassing the 6,000-hour mark.

When Brill began flying, much of the focus of his training was on dogfighting, in anticipation of air-to-air battles with Soviet jets over the skies of eastern Europe. The Falcon's capacity to drop ordnance on ground targets was limited to the use of so-called "dumb bombs."

"We expected heavy losses," Brill said. "We knew it was going to be a bloody fight if we ever did that."

The Falcon's weapons are no less deadly today, but the ordnance Brill now delivers is far more accurate. Far less concerned with air-to-air dominance, the Air Force has shifted the Falcon's role to that of a precision bomber. Today, for instance, Brill's orders included surveilling a five-mile stretch of road in northern Iraq for individuals or small groups planting roadside bombs - a task job that would have been unthinkable during the Cold War.

Walter Sams, the 419th's vice commander and a good friend of Brill's, said that there was some confusion about what would become of Falcon pilots after the Soviet Union collapse.

"When the wall fell things did change," Sams said. "For a couple of years we weren't exactly sure what to focus our training on."

The "day of clarity," Sams said, came in the summer of 1990, when U.S. forces were called upon to drive the Iraqi Army out of Kuwait. "Then we knew - the focus was no longer on the Soviet Union, it was on the Middle East."

Sams said many fellow Falcon pilots are jealous of the air time accumulated by the man they call "Brillo" - the equivalent of about 250 days in the sky.

"We'd like to know how he's done it," Sams said.

Brill said it's simple. In 28 years as an Air Force pilot, he's never pursued a job that would take him out of the cockpit.

"If I was a teacher, I'd want to be in the classroom," he said. "If I were a cowboy, I'd just as soon be on a horse on the range."

Source: http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_9135358

[Asif]

Hill AFB pilot sets F-16 flight record
Reported by: Buddy Blankenfeld

HILL AFB, Utah (ABC 4 News) - One of Utah's own has achieved a feat no other person on earth has done. Hill Air Force Base pilot Lt. Col., Mike Brill has flown a staggering 6,000 hours in an F-16 Fighting Falcon. The milestone achievement happened Friday in Iraq where Colonel Mike Brill is currently deployed flying combat sorties.

Six years ago ABC4 was there when Col. Brill hit five thousand hours. “It means I’m getting pretty dog gone old,” said Brill on that historic day back in 2002. He took off on a training mission from Hill Air Force Base that day. Now, he's flying combat missions in Iraq supporting ground troops. He says his role is important because the enemy knows the F-16’s are ready to help out at any time. “The bad guys know within a matter of minutes they're going to be looking at a 500 pounder coming down their throats,” said Brill.

General Burton Field, Brill's friend and fellow pilot for nearly 30 years, says the Colonel has been a great pilot from day one. “The idea that he spent 28 years focusing on this profession, on the edge that he needs to be on, physically and mentally, is very impressive,” said Gen. Field.

Each sortie is usually about an hour in the air. It means Col. Brill has completed nearly 6,000 sorties, including dozens of combat missions. He led the first air strike in Afghanistan following September 11, 2001 and on Friday flew an historic mission as the only pilot in 24 countries that fly the F-16, an achievement he’s taking all in stride. “All I really want to worry about is the next time I fly because if you don't put your heart and soul into the mission you're not going to measure up anyways,” he said.

To put his accomplishment in perspective, it is equivalent to flying 2.5 million miles or enough to circle the earth 97 times.

Col. Brill has received the Meritorious Service Medal, the Air Medal, and the Aerial Achievement Medal.

He has also graduated from Fighter Weapons School, the equivalent to the Navy's Top Gun.

Source: http://www.abc4.com/news/local/story.as ... 8fbcefb8e4

[J.J.]

Hill pilot achieves world record in F-16

419th Fighter Wing Public Affairs

5/2/2008 - HILL AIR FORCE BASE, UTAH -- An Air Force Reserve pilot assigned to the 419th Fighter Wing made history today as he became the only pilot to amass 6,000 flying hours in the F-16 Fighting Falcon.

Lt. Col. Michael "Brillo" Brill hit the 6,000-hour mark in a combat mission out of Balad Air Base, Iraq, where he has been deployed since late March. Brill was also the first pilot to reach 5,000 flying hours in the F-16 in November 2002 and 4,000 flying hours in the F-16 in August 1998. He holds the world record as the most experienced F-16 pilot among the 24 countries that fly F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft.

"Six thousand hours equates to 250 days in the cockpit, not counting all the time in ground ops before and after flight," said Brig. Gen. Burt Field, commander of the 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing at Balad Air Base. "That is an incredible amount of time in a high-G, high-speed, high-stress arena."

The 6,000 flying hour milestone is also equivalent to traveling nearly 2.5 million miles - enough to circle the earth 97 times.

"Lt. Col. Brill has worked extremely hard to reach this milestone," said Col. Gary Batinich, 419th Fighter Wing commander. "While serving in the 419th Fighter Wing over the past 19 years, he's held a variety of key positions and has always managed to balance the demands of his day-to-day duties with the demands of a rigorous flying schedule."

Reaching even 5,000 hours in a fighter aircraft is a rare feat, according to Lockheed Martin, the aerospace corporation that produced the F-16.

Brill has accumulated 226 combat flying hours and has flown more than 50 combat sorties. Following Sept.11, 2001, he led the first F-16 strike into Afghanistan.

"Brillo has been leading the world in this area for a long time," General Field said. "[He] is something of an icon in the F-16 community."

Brill's combat experience includes three tours in support of Operation Northern Watch; two in support of Operation Southern Watch; two in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom; and one in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

Brill is a Virginia native and has called Utah home for the past 28 years. He graduated from the Air Force Academy in May 1979 where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree with a major in civil engineering. He completed undergraduate pilot training at Laughlin Air Force Base, Texas, in June the following year. After graduating pilot training at the top of his class, Brill was selected for training in the F-16 Fighting Falcon and was assigned to the 388th Fighter Wing at Hill AFB in 1980. He became an instructor pilot in 1984. His decorations include the Meritorious Service Medal, the Air Medal, and the Aerial Achievement Medal.

Brill joined the Air Force Reserve and 419th Fighter Wing in 1989 and currently serves as the wing's Chief of Safety. He is married to the former Jean Marie Sollars of Seattle, Wash. They have three children and currently reside in Huntsville.

Source: http://www.419fw.afrc.af.mil/news/story ... =123096993

Note: "[...] Following Sept.11, 2001, he led the first F-16 strike into Afghanistan. [...]" That´s absolute new to me! The first F-16 OEF mission occured on October 22, 2001, from Ahmed Al Jaber AB, Kuwait. Among the pilots of this mission was Gary M. "Batman" Batinich, at that time a Lieutenant Colonel and 466th FS commander. See topic <a href="http://www.f-16.net/f-16_forum_viewtopic-t-4399.html">Operation Enduring Freedom (F-16 Combat History)</a>.

[Asif]

File photo

[J.J.]

From the archives:

Air Force pilot soars to F-16 milestone

by Maj. James R. Wilson

419th Fighter Wing Public Affairs Office

11/22/02 - HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah (AFPN) -- A piece of history was carved out Nov. 22 when four F-16 Fighting Falcons from the 419th Fighter Wing here took off on a combat training mission. While four F-16s on a routine training mission is not necessarily historic, one of the pilots, Lt. Col. Michael Brill, earned his place in the record books during the sortie. Brill became the first pilot in the world to log 5,000 flying hours in the F-16 aircraft.

"I've been fortunate," said Brill. "The fact that I've been able to stay in the cockpit this long really is a case of being in the right place at the right time."

Brill's 5,000 hours in the F-16 is the equivalent of traveling 1,750,000 miles--enough to circle the earth 70 times. The Virginia native surpassed previous thousand-hour milestones in the F-16 in 1985, 1988, and 1993. He was also the first pilot to amass more than 4,000 total flying hours in the F-16 in August 1998.

"It's an extremely durable aircraft with a proven track record in combat operations," said Brill. "Its reliability is a real testament to the quality product Lockheed Martin has provided the Air Force. At the same time, our own maintainers take incredibly good care of the aircraft."

The planned mission for the milestone sortie included training in high-altitude delivery of laser guided bombs. Such training has prepared him for numerous combat missions during his career. Brill's combat experience includes three tours for Operation Northern Watch, two for Operation Southern Watch and one for Operation Enduring Freedom. He has accumulated 122 combat flight hours in those operations.

"I would rather be flying the F-16 than any other aircraft in the world," said Brill. "I like flying a single seat, single-engine airplane. I like the mission that we've got. I like being a jack-of-all-trades and a master of a few. If I had to choose between the F-16 and one of the other platforms in the inventory, I would opt for the (F-16) hands down."

Brill, a full-time reservist, currently serves as the operations officer for the wing's 466th Fighter Squadron. He graduated from the Air Force Academy in May 1979 and completed undergraduate pilot training at Laughlin Air Force Base, Texas in June of the following year. He has been flying the F-16 since November 1980 when he was a member of the 388th FW here.

"The best part is the F-16 continues to get significantly better with each upgrade," he added. "This aircraft has exceeded everyone's high expectations

Source: http://www.f16viper.org/news.htm

Note: This archived news article is not more online on http://www.419fw.afrc.af.mil/

Associated photo:

[J.J.]

Also from the archives is the following picture:

Source: http://www.f16viper.org/index.htm

Original caption:
Kurt is presented the plaque by Lockheed for having flown the 5,000 000 Viper hour, left is Maj. Mike "Brillo" Brill who that day flew his 4,000 Viper hour

The plaque is presented to Capt. Kurt Gallegos, Hill AFB. And the date looks to me like December 4, 1996. Is that correct?

[f16cctul]

Col. Brill reminds me of Robin Olds of the Vietnam era. That's a great one to be compared to! Congrats!!