LUKE AIR FORCE BASE, Arizona --
Lt. Col. Matthew Hayden, 56th Fighter Wing chief of
safety and pilot attached to the 61st Fighter Squadron, made history as the
first Air Force pilot 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.