2016-02-08 The week prior to the first transatlantic flight of the F-35, this one done by an Italian pilot, a USAF pilot became the first pilot to fly 500 hours on the F-35.
According to an article by Airman First Class Ridge Shan, 56th Fighter Wing, and published February 3, 2015:
Lt. Col. Matthew Hayden, 56th Fighter Wing chief of safety and pilot attached to the 61st Fighter Squadron, made history as the first Thunderbolt to achieve 500 flight hours in an F-35 Lightning II today at Luke Air Force Base.
Hayden achieved this milestone flying his 270th sortie, a routine training mission, which took off from Luke at approximately 9 a.m. on Tuesday.
“This is a testament to Luke and all the work we’ve done here to build up our experience and operations,” Hayden said. “This is a reflection of our efforts to set up a high-quality training program for new pilots.”
Hayden is one of the most experienced F-35 pilots in the world, and has flown and instructed new pilots at Luke since the inception of its program.
“The [61st FS] Top Dogs are incredibly lucky to have an F-35 instructor pilot who has been with the program since the beginning flying with us on a daily basis,” said Lt. Col. Aaron Jelinek, 61st FS director of operations. “Lieutenant colonel Hayden’s depth of knowledge when it comes to both F-35 systems and tactics add incredible value to squadron operations each and every day. This is an impressive milestone for lieutenant colonel Hayden as he continues leading the way when it comes to experience flying the F-35.”
As Luke transitions from its mission of training F-16 Fighting Falcon pilots, maintainers and support specialists to training equivalent Airmen in operation of the new F-35 platform, Hayden’s 500th hour in the air marks a significant leap of progress in the development of Luke’s F-35 program.
“When our most experienced instructor pilot only has 500 hours in the plane, it goes to show the F-35 program is still young,” Jelinek said. “However, it also shows that we are reaching a point where operations are normalizing, and we are able to transition our syllabus from training initial cadre to training less experienced fighter pilots.”
Luke Airmen are among the first in a global generation of pilots to fly the F-35, and will continue to reach milestones such as this for the duration of the aircraft’s development.
“The fabulous thing about this is that there are a lot of guys who are right behind me, who are really close to getting the same kind of milestone in their flying experience,” Hayden said.
As today’s pilots become more and more experienced with the F-35 platform, they position themselves to become the instructors and mentors of future generations of pilots flying more advanced versions of the fighter jet as they are developed and produced.
“As we build our cadre of instructors here, they’ll be able to look back at their experience flying the airplane and have credibility and a solid background that they can use to teach their students,” Hayden said.
The program is rapidly maturing.
By the end of 2015, the F-35 program has achieved the following:
- More than 45,000 hours flown
- More than 16,000 sorties
- F-35 stationed at 10 bases
- F-35 completed five deployments to sea
- 6 nations are currently flying the F-35
- More than 160 F-35s are in the field
- 229 Jets on Contract
- 150 More with LRIP 9 and 10
- More than 300 pilots and 2700 maintainers
And for a video which provides a comprehensive look at the program and one of its critics, see the following: