13-month assignment at the 80th FS at
Kunsan AB in South Korea, he joined the
55th FS at Shaw in September 2016 as a
quali ed instructor pilot on the front line.
In late 2018, Schmitz got his rst combat
experience when he deployed with the
55th FS to take part in Operation ‘Inherent
Resolve’ under US Central Command. He
said: ‘The rst combat mission I ew was
with a good buddy of mine. We ended uphaving to drop bombs on that sortie so it
really stood out. Being in combat is hard to
describe, it’s exciting, it’s nerve-wracking,
it’s a little bit scary, but it’s what you
trained for.’ He went on to notch up more
than 340 combat hours before he got the
call to join the ‘Viper demo’ team.
The new position comes as a full circle
for Schmitz since it was this team that
made him want to become a ghter pilotLeft: ‘Toro’ wears
the standard HGU-
55 helmet during
his routine, rather
than the heavier
Joint Helmet
Mounted Cueing
System. Rob van
Disseldorp
Below: ‘Toro’ pulls
up hard into a
climb during the
validation fl ight
at Joint Base
Langley-Eustis,
Virginia, on May- USAF/A1C
Marcus M. Bullock
in the rst place. ‘I was probably 10 years
old and we had an airshow in my small
town. The ‘Viper’ team showed up and
I remember speci cally watching the
pilot do the max performance climb and
seeing him essentially disappear into
oblivion doing spirals. It’s very vivid in
my memory and I thought, ‘that’s what
I want to do’ — that set the tone for my
formative years and, really, my life. That
became my goal; to become an F-16
pilot.’ It is exactly that maneuver that is
his favorite in the display today. ‘I love
performing the maneuver in the hope
that I’m inspiring some kid out there the
same way I was.’Display work-up
In order to become the display pilot,
Schmitz had to pass 17 syllabus sorties.
The rst two were in the back seat, with
the outgoing pilot ying the display. For
the next six-to-eight rides, the outgoing
pilot is in the back seat. The rest of the
sorties are own solo and the new pilot
gradually lowers the altitude. After that,
several di erent certi cations followSHOW REPORT // F-16 DEMONSTRATION TEAM
78 September 2019 //^ http://www.combataircraft.net
76-79 Viper demo team C.indd 78 18/07/2019 13:19