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WWW.SEAPOWERMAGAZINE.ORG SEAPOWER / MAY 2016
One of VFA-101’s tasks was to develop the training
syllabus for F- 35 pilots, which it completed two years
ago but must refine as software upgrades are incorporated in the aircraft.
“Every time that software load for the jet improves, it
improves the jet, it opens up more capability to us, and
we refine our syllabus to reflect that so we can train to
the full capability of the airplane,” Christie said.
Currently, VFA-101 is analyzing what time will be
optimum to introduce new aviators — called “Cat 1”
for Category 1 — coming from the training command
into the syllabus.
“It’s not something we do just kind of shooting from
the hip,” Christie said. “You need to do some deep
analysis. This is a complex plane with some challeng-
ing mission sets, and we want to make sure we under-
stand how to comprehensively train all those missions
for someone who is already a fairly skilled and senior
aviator before we try to train a young guy to it and
maybe get them in over their head. We’re trying to be
very careful on how we move down that path.”
The F-35C pilot syllabus includes about 60 hours
of simulator time and 40 hours of flight time. Christie
had accrued 80 hours in the F-35C by late March and
expected to reach 100 in May.
“The jet is relatively easy to fly,” he said. “It is made
to be very pilot-friendly from a stick-and-rudder perspective, but processing the information that sensor
fusion is bringing to the pilot, and not only being able
to assimilate it, but acting on that information in a way
that is tactically relevant will push the limits of any
pilot right now. We want to make sure that [we train
pilots] the right way so we can have the right habit
patterns and have the right building-block style of syllabus that builds on good foundational skills.”
Christie, who has accrued more than 3,300 total
flight hours, mostly in F/A-18s, said of the F-35C: “To
fully appreciate what it takes to bring all of that from
a piece of paper with a blueprint to a flying machine
that accomplishes some very complex and difficult
mission sets, it is a technological wonder. What sensor
fusion does, to bring that to make a blue-collar pilot
like me able to absorb that information and then make
a good decision, it’s impressive. People can relay it in
terms of millions of lines of code, and, as we continue
to refine that, it’s going to set a new bar for what you
can do in a tactical airplane when you have that kind of
innovation steeped in the culture to create this thing.
We’re learning that it takes a lot of time and manpower
to bring that to bear. That’s a very interesting part of
Two F-35C Lightning II aircraft perform a break maneuver with an F/A-18E Super Hornet from Naval Air Station (NAS)
Lemoore, Calif., April 14, 2015. The flight was part of a six-day visit by the Grim Reapers of Strike Fighter Squadron
101 to NAS Lemoore, the future basing site for the F-35C.
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