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F-22 Flight Training Challenging Work for Air Force Reserve PilotsIn Alaska, pilots must expect the unexpectedRelated Content
JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON - Air Force Reserve pilots, who only fly part time, took time away from their regular day jobs to train in F-22’s. The day was forecasted to be clear with blue skies, but the pilots said in Alaska you always have to expect the unexpected. “Alaska has a lot of great things,” said Lieutenant Colonel Kevin Sutterfield. “The air space is outstanding and the terrain is beautiful, but it changes fast and the weather changes.” Flying the United States' premier fighter jet in the harsh weather conditions of the Last Frontier brings unique challenges. Saturday started off with clear skies, but by the time the planes took flight the visibility was lowering and by the time the jets had to land the snow was falling hard. Sutterfield said every day brings new learning opportunities. “It’s not unlike a football team, in that you start with small drills and work your way up to full pad practice. Today [Saturday] they were doing one vs. one drills” -- or a “dogfight,” a war game in which pilots simulate air combat. “We have people who could go to war tomorrow,” said Lieutenant Colonel Brett Paola. A dogfight was expected; what Paola didn’t expect was snow. “What that means is pilots have to manage their fuel, and their timing to not only go out and fight or train, but their part of their training is to come back here and land the airplanes in the lower visibility weather.” Every F-22 is fueled enough to do their mission and land somewhere safe. If the visibility is to bad at JBER they will divert to Ted Stevens International Airport or Eielson Air Force Base in Fairbanks -- which they do a couple times a year. He said a majority of their flying is in similar weather, and if they can’t take off and land in the planes, then they can’t use them. And it’s not just pilots learning a lesson. “The maintainers have to learn to operate in that environment, the snow removal and the people that take care of the airport have to jet up again and make sure everything is clear and there is a whole priority for that,” said Paola. According to Paola, this is just a taste of what’s to come, especially when the temperatures drop below freezing. “It's cold, anytime it gets cold it is miserable to work on things, especially metal. It can get cold, where they can't touch their tools with their bare hands because they can freeze to it.” But he says the pain is worth the gain because if you can fly here you can soar anywhere. |
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Chris said on Tuesday, Oct 16 at 10:22 AM
Lieutenant Sutterfield. That's awesome.
104093425Anonymous said on Tuesday, Oct 16 at 12:56 PM
did they have helicopter trainings as well? there was one buzzing pretty low in the Miller's Market areas...what's up with that?
104106626me said on Tuesday, Oct 16 at 4:32 PM
The helicopters were probably looking for that downed cargo plane that was found this morning out by Skwentna. It took of from Wasilla.
104119686Anonymous said on Wednesday, Oct 17 at 10:47 AM
oh not good...yeah they were pretty low...but they came up and around the prator lake area...that is no where near skwentna...
104180205questions said on Wednesday, Oct 17 at 10:49 AM
neighbors heard a plane that sounded like an engine was needing a tune up...kind of like cars...noisy ones get the attention...this was a couple times that they heard that plane and being no aviation experts they said "that plane doesn't sound good" and asked if it should be in the air? some joked and said no it needs to be in the shop until you can't hear it run...or almost...lol...
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