Frag Out! Magazine
Issue link: https://fragout.uberflip.com/i/773724
FO: How many years you have spent in the aviation? BF: I have been flying military fighter jets since 1981…. 35 years. I have more than 5000 flight hours in more than 80 different aircraft. FO: What was your career path before you became a test pilot? BF: My father was a fighter pilot in the RCAF. He flew F-86's in Germany for the RCAF and Luftwaffe, plus CF- 100s and CF-101s. I attended the Royal Military College and then joined the Canadian Air Force, first as a fighter pilot and then later trained as a test pilot at the United States Naval Test Pilot School. FO: How many different types of aircraft are you flying? BF: Presently I fly exclusively the F-35, all three variants because there is so much flying for us, I choose not to fly the F-16 or F-18 as a second aircraft. FO: How different is the F-35 from the jets you have been flying before? BF: The F-35 is a 5thGeneration fighter is far more than just a flying machine. The systems on-board are vastly more sophisticated than any legacy fighter that I have known. So flying the F-35, at the very leading edge of technology development is a very technically exciting task. FO: What are the main differences between the various versions of the F-35? BF: Very little difference between each model. They only differ in takeoff and landing characteristics and even then, they are not much different. FO: We had the opportunity to "fly" on the F-35 simulator - flying the real aircraft is much different than simulated? BF: The simulator flies very much like the real airplane. The F-35 is a remarkably easy aircraft to operate as a pilot because the true task for our pilots is to manage the systems and the information presented on the touch screens in front of them in the cockpit. www.fragoutmag.com