Luke selected for USAF F-35A training base.

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Luke graduates first F-35A initial qualification course

LUKE AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. -- Class 17-ABL from the 61st Fighter Squadron made history graduating the first F-35A Lightning II initial qualification course Aug. 5. After eight months of tremendous teamwork from across the 56th Fighter Wing, Team Luke produced six F-35A fighter pilots ready for the combat Air Force.

During the ceremony, Lt. Gen. Darryl Roberson, Air Education and Training Command commander, spoke to the graduates.

“This is a history making moment,” said Roberson. “From my perspective there will be people 20 to 30 years from now who will remember that you were in the first [F-35A Lightning II initial qualification course]. It is really important for you to know that the F-35 is the future.”

During the course, Lockheed Martin instructor pilots taught the academic phase of training consisting of more than 156 events totaling 308 hours. Academics focuses on pilots learning the basic aircraft systems, emergency procedures, local area procedures, mission systems, weapons and tactical employment.

Prior to the first flight in the Lightning II, each student completes 16 simulator events and over the course of the program 46 simulator events occur. The F-35 simulator provides a highly realistic and immersive experience that prepares each pilot for their first sortie in an aircraft.

“Each student flew at least 48 sorties totaling 77 hours,” said Lt. Col. Rhett Hierlmeier, 61st FS commander. “Starting with the basics of taking off and landing, continuing across the full spectrum mission sets, and culminating in our Capstone phase of high-end employment. Along the way, our students dropped inert and live laser-guided GBU-12s, refueled from a KC-135 day and night, and flew low-altitude step-down training.”

During the graduation, the six pilots were presented several awards including the Academic Award, presented to 1st Lt. Brett Burnside. The Academic Award is presented to the student with the highest average test score over five tests taken throughout the course.

“For B-Course graduates, you are going to be the one that everyone turns to,” said Roberson. “It won’t be long for the B-Course group to turn to you to find the answers about that airplane. You need to be the ones that step up and know the answers on a higher level. Don’t be shy, we need you to push the envelope on how to fly the F-35. We are teaching you everything we know about the F-35, you’re going to take us to another level.”

These six pilots will go down in history having completed the first eight-month F-35A Lighting II initial qualification course.

“Congratulations 17-ABL,” said Hierlmeier. “I salute you for your hard work and commitment to excellence. You have earned the title ‘F-35 fighter pilot,’ and you make us proud.” You represent the hard work of the 56th Fighter Wing and Team Luke. Continue to learn and sharpen your sword, for there will likely be a day, sooner rather than later, when you will be tested. As you move on to your operational assignments remember that you wear our brand. Stay humble, fly, fight and win! Bring it on!”

http://www.luke.af.mil/News/Article-Dis ... on-course/

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Long article

Peeking into the Air Force's F-35 Training Course

1st Lt. Brett Burnside soared at Mach 1.4 -- 1,075 miles per hour -- supersonic in the dead of night over the desert, inverted over his wingman.

As a brand-new pilot, such a feat gave Burnside a burst of adrenaline. What's more, he was pulling the move in the centerpiece of Air Force's future fleet: the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

"You can practice and practice and practice as much as you want, but when it comes to flying the jet, whether it's in a train or combat scenario, you have to have the ability to execute," Burnside told Military.com in a recent interview.

"Not to say that all of us are perfect, because we are not by any means perfect at all times," he said. "We're always going to have minor errors here and there, but your goal is to limit the impact and frequency of errors every time you go out there."

Burnside, who's racked up roughly 90 flight hours, and five other F-35A pilots graduated the service's eight-month "B-course," or basic flight class, at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona, on Aug. 5. They were a part of the 61st Fighter Squadron.

The only platform these pilots have known in their brief Air Force careers is the Lightning II.

While acknowledging that he's low on the totem pole in terms of what his role has been thus far, Burnside said F-35 pilots must all be the best of the best...

http://www.military.com/daily-news/2017 ... mobile.amp

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[spazsinbad]

6 page PDF 'Building the future of AIR POWER' about aircraft at Luke AFB from COMBAT AIRCRAFT June 2018 Vol.19 No.6.

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http://www.luke.af.mil/News/Article-Dis ... intenance/

Lightning Integrated Technicians reinvent F-35 maintenance
By Airman 1st Class Caroline Burnett and Senior Airman Ridge Shan, 56th Fighter Wing Public Affairs / Published July 11, 2018
LUKE AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. --

As part of an effort to increase F-35A Lightning II maintenance effectiveness and efficiency at Luke Air Force Base, the 62nd Aircraft Maintenance Unit created a team of unified maintenance Air Force specialties called Lightning Integrated Technicians.

Maintainers from independent career fields, including crew chiefs, avionics technicians, weapons technicians, and low-observable technicians, who all operate separately in traditional maintenance, were integrated into a single coordinated team using cross utilization training and shared work procedures.

After a one week nose-to-tail classroom training and two weeks of on the job training by senior enlisted members, a student to instructor model is employed to ensure LIT members were reinforcing training they received.

Finally, enlisted leaders undertook the huge task of merging four Career Field Education Training Plans. All redundancies were eliminated, leaving a 1,225-task CFEPT. Though large in breadth, the team leveraged high frequency tasks for upgrade training and derived a 71-task 5-level upgrade and a 21-task 7-level upgrade. These tasks currently represent almost 80 percent of the maintenance performed on the F-35 on a routine basis.

The LIT team currently has 34 personnel, maintaining six aircraft.

“As the program has grown, we realize we need to have dedicated teams on each aircraft, not just dedicated crew chiefs,” said Senior Master Sgt. Lonnie Gore, 62nd AMU LIT superintendent. “In the legacy world, dedicated crew chiefs only did maintenance, but now we are asking more of Airmen to be better [non-commissioned officers] and to train them for their next job when they get off the flight line.”

Traditional maintenance operations have sections perform career-specific tasks with minimal coordination with other sections. Aircraft can be delayed while undergoing certain types of maintenance as other sections wait to receive them, resulting in fewer sorties and reduced utilization of manpower.

With the LIT team, multiple components of the aircraft can be worked simultaneously. Additionally, each maintainer learns proficiency in the work of the other sections.

“Coming straight out of [technical training] into the LIT program has definitely been a curve ball,” said Airman 1st Class Nathan Lakey, LIT F-35 crew chief. “Being trained as far as crew chief tasks only [at technical training] and now jumping into learning every other AFSC involved with the F-35 has been a lot to take on, but I feel like it’s better for you as a maintainer to see how everybody else is involved.”

Additionally, pilots have increased confidence in their maintenance crew who, because of their supplemental knowledge in each aspect of the aircraft, take greater pride in their work. LIT team members work consistently on the same jet, making it easier for them to track and plan all maintenance performed.

“We are confident when we walk out to the jet and see the individual [who] has been working on it [all day],” said Lt. Col. Dean Miller, Director of Operations for the 62nd Fighter Squadron. “They not only understand the aircraft but are also very concerned about the safety of the pilot.”

To date, the LIT teams have produced more than 172 sorties and over 265 flying hours with fewer technicians than traditional manpower constructs. Their low 7 percent abort rate and 5 percent break rate has given way to a 72.5 percent mission capable rate which has exceeded the 60 percent Air Education and Training Command standard while maintaining a sortie utilization rate of 16.

The LIT program will be expanded throughout the 62nd AMU and each aircraft in the 62nd FS will have its own dedicated LIT team by the end of 2018. The program will then be submitted for evaluation and review by Air Force and Department of Defense leadership, who will determine its potential applicability across the Air Force, DoD and F-35 partner nations.

“What this program is going to do is provide the stability for the AMU to produce a consistent turn-patter of aircraft,” Miller said. “We can rely on the fact that the systems are going to work, and we are able to produce more pilots, more efficiently, with a higher quality of training.”

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Mach 1.4, inverted? Wonder how long he held that...

I keep hearing pilots say, "she's fast". Yet we hear constantly she's limited to mach 1.6. I understand this was the requirement, but when they say she's fast.... does that mean her cruising speed (assume that's .9 mach) is higher than your average F-16 or legacy bird?

Or, are they referring to her ability to hold something between .9 mach and say, 1.1 or 1.2??