Sea Power - May 2016

17 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.