British pilot finishes Raptor training at Tyndall

  • Published
  • By Capt. J. Elaine Hunnicutt
  • 325th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. (AFPN) --  The first British pilot to complete F-22 Raptor training graduated July 17 at Tyndall Air Force Base.

Flight Lt. Dan Robinson, from the Royal Air Force, is assigned to Langley AFB, Va. He has completed two months of training with the 43rd Fighter Squadron as part of an exchange program. In return, a U.S. fighter pilot will be trained and fly the new EF-2000 Eurofighter Typhoon side-by-side with the RAF.

For the coalition, the benefit of the exchange program is the implementation of the aircraft capabilities into the multi-national planning process. Both the Raptor's and Typhoon's potential and capabilities will be better understood by both U.S. and United Kingdom aviators in battle, providing better results and minimizing collateral damage and loss of coalition life.

Lieutenant Robinson is a combat veteran who has served in the RAF since 1996.

"I have been fascinated with aircraft since I was a child; I was that kid who always wanted to talk to the pilot. My father was a businessman, and we traveled a lot on planes while I was growing up," he said.

He comes from a family of warriors. Both of his grandfathers served in the military during World War II.

Lieutenant Robinson was flying F-3 Tornados with the RAF 25th Fighter Squadron in England prior to the exchange program. The 29-year-old pilot arrived in the United States in March.

He originally applied for the Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet exchange program but was not selected. Instead, he was told he was going into the F-22 Raptor exchange program.

"I didn't even know that it existed or that I was up for it. I couldn't believe it," he said.

He said his biggest challenge in the program was taking all of the information that is made available in this weapon system and using it.

The F-22 has the ability to pull from multiple sources of data, allowing the pilot to gain a large, detailed picture of the battlefield. "It is the leading edge for fifth-generation aircraft," he said.

Now that he's graduated, Lieutenant Robinson will train, exercise and deploy with his assigned Langley squadron.

"I will be like any other front-line pilot in the squadron," he said.

Other than dealing with a few phraseology challenges, his instructors said he did outstanding in the program and will return to Langley a true asset for the Raptor program.

Little differences in terms like "flight pattern versus circuit" can cause confusion between pilots and air traffic controllers, said Maj. Mike Cabral, 43rd Fighter Squadron chief of weapons and tactics. "But, once we got him his decoder ring for U.S. speak, he was good to go. Fighter pilots are fighter pilots.

"The fact that we were to train a British pilot came as no surprise; it is a natural progression to integrate our coalition partners into this process," Major Cabral said. "With his combat skill set, it was a seamless transition. He has coalition operations and weapons instructor experience; he will be a force multiplier."

Approximately 70 pilots have graduated from the Raptor training program to date.