Bograt

A young fighter pilot prepares to step up to the classic Hornet

That career progression all started as a youngster at Riverfire.

“That was definitely it. With the dump and burn you can feel the heat from the fuel igniting behind the jet. It basically lit up the place like daytime,” he told Australian Aviation.

“You could hear the aircrew count themselves in over the radio.”

David, now 24, wanted to fly F-111s but by the time he joined the RAAF in 2013, the F-111s were long gone, with the last retired in 2010, their strike capability replaced by the new Boeing Super Hornets.

So why not seek to go straight onto the ultimate, the new F-35 Lightning Joint Strike Fighter? The first pair of F-35s are set to arrive in Australia in December and as more arrive, they will progressively replace the classic Hornets.

But the classics will be around for a while longer and will continue to form a significant part of RAAF air combat capability for at least another three years.

The classics are also at the peak of their capability, substantially upgraded and vastly different to the first aircraft delivered in the mid- 1980s.

Though F-35s are now flying operationaly with the US and Israeli air forces, they are as yet far from mature.

The RAAF plans to declare initial operational capability (IOC) at the end of 2020 and final operational capability (FOC) at the end of 2023 when all 72 will be in Australia in service.

So by the time David gets to fly F-35, they will be a far more mature capability.

David first flew in a classic Hornet when he scored a ride during his training at No 2 Flight Training School (2FTS) in Perth.

“I was pretty blown away by it. It was outside my skill range at the time. It was a bit overwhelming. It was a fantastic experience but it highlighted a lot of what I didn’t know at the time,” he said.

David said he was used to flying PC-9 and a CT-4 training aircraft and Hornet with its vastly greater speed and different flight characteristics made it a very different aircraft.

David has flown 120 hours on Hawk with 21 of those hours solo. He says it’s still a big step to move onto classics.

“But it’s nowhere near what it was back when I was at 2FTS. It seemed pretty daunting back then. But to be honest I feel kind of the same as I did before starting BFTS and the same as I did before starting 2FTS.

“Each step up looks quite large at the time but the way the Air Force trains its pilots, it’s all a building block mentality. So you start small and build up from there.”

David joined the RAAF in 2013, attending the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA) for three years, then moving to the Basic Flight Training School (BFTS) in Tamworth, learning on CT-4s, and then onto 2FTS in Perth with PC-9s.

From there he moved to the Introductory Fighter Course, first to fly Hawks for three months with 79 Squadron at RAAF Pearce in Western Australia then learning to fight Hawks for five months with 76 Squadron at RAAF Williamtown, NSW.

Like many enthusiastic young pilots, he joined the RAAF already knowing the basics. He joined the Air Force Cadets in 2007 and took his first flying lesson in 2010, eventually notching up around 70 hours on Piper Tomahawks.

Yet the RAAF training regime means that any advantage of pre- RAAF flight training has disappeared by the end of BFTS, with all those who graduate leaving at pretty much the same level of ability.

That applies just as much to novices as it does to those who start BFTS with substantial flight experience, including some with commercial pilot qualifications.

David says the way Hawk is flown at 76 and 79 Squadrons is deliberately similar to the Hornet so the transition is less challenging.

But the F-35 is certainly where he and other pilots beginning the fighter pilot journey will end up.

“I would be more than happy to fly F-35. I reckon they’re awesome,” he said.

“We haven’t had a whole lot of exposure to the F-35. We have had a few capability briefs and a few updates from the Wing just to let everyone know in a general sense what is going to be happening.

David said he had no strong preference as to where he was posted. That could be Williamtown or RAAF Tindal in the Northern Territory. “I just want to fly jets,” he said.