Four pilots selected for test pilot school

  • Published
  • By Macario Mora
  • 56th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
LUKE AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. --  Four pilots and two alternates were recently selected from Luke Air Force Base to attend the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., and the U.S. Naval Air Test Center at Patuxent River, Md., after a nearly nine-month selection process.

"This was my first application," said Maj. Charles Trickey, 62nd Fighter Squadron. "I've dreamed about doing this. I have always wanted to be a test pilot."

Trickey and fellow Luke pilots Capt. Brent Ritzke, 308th FS, Capt. Lucas Kippert, 21st FS, and Capt. Thomas Tauer, 56th Operations Group, were selected from an elite group of Air Force pilots who met the stringent standards for selection to the prestigious schools.

"Only those candidates who meet the strict operational and academic criteria even make it to the board," said Col. Noel Zamot, U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School commandant. "You need to have a minimum of a bachelor's degree in engineering, math, physics, etc. as well as a top-notch operational record to even compete."

The school develops "the next generation of test professionals for (the) nation and the world," according to Zamot.

"TPS takes the best aviators and engineers in the world (and) makes them better," he said. "Then (we) give them the hugely challenging task of developing tomorrow's combat capability."

Zamot said pilots from Luke typically are among the best-trained in the Air Force and often excel while attending the 11-month course.

"The pilots from Luke consistently demonstrate why they are at the very tip of the spear in the CAF (Combat Air Force)," Zamot said. "They do very, very well at the TPS selection boards. I think that is a testament to their airmanship, professionalism and desire to learn. They clearly demonstrate the intellectual pedigree and operational excellence required to succeed at the school and in the world of weapons systems development."

Trickey, an Air Force Academy graduate in engineering, was selected to partake in an exchange program with the U.S. Navy and will attend the Navy Test Pilot School. The Air Force also has an exchange program with foreign countries such as France and England.

The pilots submitted their packages in June 2011, but had to wait until October to hear if they had received an invitation to interview.

"It was a weeklong interview process," said Capt. Matthew Olson, one of two alternates for the TPS from Luke. "The interview consists of flying three unfamiliar aircraft. They give you profiles, and you study them the night before. There is also an oral board."

The pilots found out in early February who was selected for the school and are expected to report later this year for the course. Students will spend 120 hours flying more than 20 types of aircraft and "execute a real-world project," according to Zamot. In the end they will earn a master's degree in flight test engineering and become some of the most highly sought after pilots in the world.

"They will learn test and evaluation for every environment the (Air Force) is responsible for -- air, space and cyberspace," Zamot said. "TPS grads are clearly a 'high demand, low density' asset in our service. We just don't have enough -- it is a demanding pipeline with very high entrance requirements. However, once in the test and evaluation world, they are in incredibly high demand. I need -- our Air Force and (Defense Department) need -- more test pilots."

Trickey said he's excited for the challenge and can't wait to be exposed to the different aircraft, and believes the test pilot world is a perfect fit. In the end, the pilots all recognize that they'll be tasked with developing and testing some of the world's most cutting edge aerial technology.

"Mother Nature hid some secrets from us, and she hid them in a very hostile place -- the sky," Zamot said. "My job is to educate those who (are willing to) take Mother Nature on her own terms, learn her language and her secrets and come back to tell others. We do this so that others will have the same lethality in combat that this and previous generations have enjoyed. At the end of the day, this is all about bombs on target."