Lieutenant shines during pilot training

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  • Public Affairs
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  A lieutenant assigned to the 79th Air Refueling Squadron is sporting gold bars and silver wings these days.

Second Lt. Douglas Smith graduated Aug. 19 from Specialized Undergraduate Pilot Training Class 11-13, at Laughlin Air Force Base, Texas. Graduating at the top of his class, he was awarded the Air Education and Training Command, Commander's Trophy Distinguished Graduate Military and Academic Training award, for his professionalism, officership, leadership, airmanship, situational awareness and flying skills.

Observing his triumph were not only family but friends from the 79th ARS. Also attending the graduation was Lt. Gen. Stephen P. Mueller, vice commander, U.S. Air Forces in Europe, from Ramstein Air Base, Germany.

Although all our Air Force training can be challenging, pilot training is especially intense. For Lt. Smith, he began with a six-week pre-flight phase of academics and physiological training. The second phase, his primary training in flight, is in a single-engine, turboprop T-6A Texan II.

He learned aircraft flight characteristics, emergency procedures, takeoff and landing procedures, aerobatics and formation flying. He practiced night, instrument and cross country navigation flying.

The lieutenant's primary training was 23 weeks and included more than 300 hours of ground, simulator, and flight training.

The third phase, the airlift/tanker track, had him flying the T-1A Jayhawk, which is the military version of the Beechcraft 400, business jet. Instruction in this centered on crew coordination and management, instrument training, cross-country flying, and simulated refueling/airdrop missions. This training took 26 weeks, including more than 330 hours of ground, simulator and flight, once again.

Those of us who fly as passengers can appreciate taking more than a year of your life to learn something that well, graduating at the top of your class. We salute Lt. Smith, and can't wait to fly with him!