A veteran lineup

Experience boosts credibility of F/A-22 instructors

BY CHARLES RAMEY

With 40 years of flight experience among them, F/A-22 pilot instructors from Boeing Integrated Defense Systems are well-equipped for their job at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla. Their task is to train the newest pilots and instructors before the first operational squadrons are fielded in 2005.

Overall, the nine-member instructor team has more than 30,000 hours of cumulative fighter aircraft flying hours in the Boeing F-15 and F/A-18, the McDonnell F-4, the Lockheed F-16, and North American F-100 and F-86 as well as numerous support aircraft. And that doesn't include the thousands of hours of training they have on the ground.

Garth Granrud, Boeing IDS lead F/A-22 pilot instructor, said the group's vast experience not only makes them better instructors, but adds credibility with the U.S. Air Force students as well.

"It is a definite advantage to have such an experienced team," Granrud said. "We plan to use everything in our 'tool kit' to ensure the new F/A-22 pilots get the best training possible. We're dedicated to making the Raptor's introduction here at Tyndall a success."

All formal F/A-22 fighter training takes place at Tyndall, home to the U.S. Air Force 325th Fighter Wing.

The Boeing instructors have already begun teaching the first F/A-22 Transition Course for selected Air Force pilots. The course, which began in October, provides academic, simulator and flight training to pilots transitioning from fighters such as the F-15 and F-16. The first pilots to be trained will then become the initial cadre of instructor pilots at Tyndall.

Norm Riegsecker, Boeing IDS F/A-22 pilot training manager, said Boeing instructors will use the classrooms newly installed on the base to teach academics, which include avionics, aerial attack, air combat tactics and combat mission planning lessons.

Simulator training is conducted on three pilot-training devices: the egress procedures trainer, the weapons and tactics trainer, and the full mission trainer. Boeing has already delivered and installed one EPT, two FMTs and four WTTs at the base. "F/A-22 training takes a pilot from basic operation of the aircraft to the full range of its combat capability," Riegsecker said.

Boeing has overall responsibility for the entire F/A-22 training system, which includes both pilot and maintenance training, as well as for producing the F/A-22 wings and aft fuselage, avionics integration and testing, and the aircraft's life-support and fire-protection systems. Boeing is teamed with Lockheed Martin, Pratt & Whitney and the U.S. Air Force to develop the F/A-22, which is scheduled to become operational in 2005.

charles.b.ramey@boeing.com