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Viper Driver Flying Hours

  John A. Fergione

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Viper Driver

 Name John A. Fergione
Country
Unit 416th Flight Test Squadron
Flying F-16s
Viper Hours 3274
See also John A. Fergione website
Fergione joined General Dynamics in July 1981 after a Navy career, which included almost 300 carrier landings on board the USS Forrestal in the early 1970s. He was also an instructor at the Navy Test Pilot School. He accumulated most of his flying hours in the Fighting Falcon at the F-16 Combined Test Force at Edwards AFB, California, where he is the site manager for Lockheed Martin. His total flight time is approximately 5,600 hours, most of it in single-engine, single-seat fighter/attack airplanes. "Given the choice of every other airplane in the world, if I only had one more flight in a fighter, I would want it to be in a Block 50 or 52 F-16," said Fergione. "No second thoughts here."

Note:The F-16 test squadron at Edwards is the 416 FLTS, not the 415 FLTS. The 415th was briefly the F-15 test squadron before it was renumbered the 445 FLTS. The 445th has since been deactivated and its fighter test functions combined with those of the 416th.

2004: Fergione left the 416 TS in November 2001 and moved to the 411 TS (USAF) and he is now an experimental test pilot flying the F/A-22 (Raptor). His total flight time is 5,900 hours.

Note:The 445th is now reactived but is separate from the F-16 test squadron. The test functions of the 416 TS involve only F-16 testing.

F-16 Flying Hours

3,000 Hours # 71 on the 3K list
Unit   416th Flight Test Squadron [Unit History]
Date January 2002
Comment Lockheed Martin chief test pilot is the first company pilot to exceed 3,000 hours.
2,000 Hours # 162 on the 2K list
Unit   416th Flight Test Squadron [Unit History]
Date November 1994
Comment
1,000 Hours # 486 on the 1K list
Unit   416th Flight Test Squadron [Unit History]
Date May 1988
Comment

Flying Hours on other aircraft

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