Luke instructor headed for Thunderbirds

  • Published
  • By Stephen Delgado
  • 56th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
LUKE AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. --  Many baseball players dream of playing major league baseball, as well as football players aspiring to play in the National Football League. In the Air Force, many aircraft maintenance personnel dream of someday being part of the Thunderbirds.

Tech. Sgt. Michael Criss, Detachment 12, 372nd Training Squadron, B-Flight, mission-ready airman instructor has taken a trip on the runway of dreams and is scheduled to join the Thunderbirds Sept. 1 at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev.

"I applied several months ago and found out that I was a selectee a couple of weeks ago," Sergeant Criss said. "I had applied when I was a senior airman, and wasn't chosen, but was encouraged to try again. It will be a three-year controlled tour, with each year being different."

However, Sergeant Criss' first order of business after arriving at Nellis AFB will be a 21-day program, which has to be successfully completed before being issued the blue Thunderbird uniform and prestigious Thunderbird patch.

"The program will include a variety of items from polishing the Thunderbird emblem in the hangar twice daily to an exhaustive look at Thunderbird history," he said. "At the end of the program I will face a board which will ask numerous questions in a rapid-fire manner. I must score at least 80 percent. If I pass the program, I will get my Thunderbird patches along with my blue pants and shirt.

"The first year, I will work various shifts and will be a crew chief conducting regular maintenance and phase inspections at a predetermined interval, which include replacing all worn out parts and returning the aircraft to service."

Showtime

The second year requires submitting an application for the show line, according to Sergeant Criss.

If accepted, there is a tour-travel schedule that would make any rock band proud.
"We travel to many destinations, and I would be gone from my home station for 270 days per year," he said. "The Thunderbirds perform throughout the United States and overseas. It's a dream come true to be able to be part of this tour."

In year three of the tour, it's back to crew chief duties at Nellis.

"I return to being a crew chief, with the mission being to keep the Thunderbirds in flying condition," he said.

Sergeant Criss goes to his new assignment with a plethora of experience.

He has more than nine years of experience in aircraft maintenance and has been on loan from the 82nd Training Wing, Sheppard AFB, Texas, as a MRA instructor teaching students maintenance on older F-16 models.