aviation - the past, present and future of flight

second tour flying the F-117A. It had been

three years since I had flown an aircraft and

on July 7, 1994 I found myself alone, once

again, in the air in a stealth fighter.

I spent the next ten months as Operations

Officer of the 7th Fighter Squadron (FS)

‘Screamin’ Demons’, the only flying training

unit for F-117 pilots. The ops officer is number

two in the chain of command of a USAF

squadron, just under the commander. It was

a great job since I only had to worry about the

pilots, while the squadron commander had

to deal with running the entire unit – which

at the time included all the maintenance

personnel. All squadron aircrew were

instructor pilots and dual-qualified in both

the F-117 and the T-38, which we used to

chase the student pilots as they trained in

the stealth fighter. Since all F-117As were

single-seat aircraft, we had to do our inflight

instruction while flying in T-38s and ‘chasing’

the students. It was a great opportunity to get

my flight skills back in shape while waiting for

my chance for squadron command.

In May 1995, due to several unfortunate

circumstances, a commander in one of

the two operational fighter squadrons was

removed from his position. The evening

prior to this, I was summoned to the wing

commander’s office. He told me to report

to the 9th FS ‘Flying Knights’ operations

building the next morning and that I should

be wearing that unit’s patches. At 0800hrs,

I would assume command of the squadron.

There would not be a change-of-command

ceremony. I had been preparing for this day

my entire career. I was ready!

So, on May 12, I showed up at the 9th

FS in my flight suit, complete with the unit’s

patches, and the operations officer met me at

the door. He gave me a tour of the squadron

and introduced me to everyone. I already

knew most of the pilots since many of them

had gone through the 7th for training over

the last year. We stopped at the Operations

24 Aviation News incorporating Jets January 2018

A 9th FS F-117A departing Holloman AFB starts

to retract its undercarriage. Rich Cooper/COAP

The 9th FS with CO Lt Col Greg Feest

nearest the camera. via Greg Feest

22-27_f117_part_2DC.mf.mfDC.indd 24 01/12/2017 13:56