Photo By Staff Sgt. Sean Campbell | An F-15 Eagle gets refueled by a Fairchild Air Force Base KC-135 during a mission over...... read more read more
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FAIRCHILD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. - “I went from thinking I was the tip-top to struggling to make it through,” said 1st Lt. Steven G. Strickland, 93rd Air Refueling Squadron co-pilot. “But because I struggled, I was able to learn more, and I became more grateful for the opportunity to be a pilot.”
Strickland knew from a very young age that being a pilot was something he wanted to achieve. Growing up on Air Force bases, Strickland saw planes flying frequently and attended many airshows. It was because of this that the dream of being a pilot was instilled in him.
During his high school years, Strickland lived in Colorado Springs. The Air Force Academy was not far from the high school he attended, and recruiters visited frequently.
“The recruiters would tell us all these cool things about the Air force,” said Strickland. “Already wanting to be an Air Force pilot, the recruiters made the Air Force Academy seem like the best route to take.”
Strickland applied to the Academy and was accepted into the class of 2011. Before completing his four years at the Academy, he took a two-year sabbatical to conduct a mission in Paraguay for his church. After two years, he returned to the Academy and graduated with the class of 2013.
Immediately after graduating the Academy, Strickland arrived at Columbus AFB in August of 2013. The first step after arriving at Columbus was to begin Initial Flight Screening. Initial Flight Screening is when the Air Force determines if someone is teachable and able to catch onto concepts quickly enough to progress through pilot training.
“Unfortunately pilot training doesn’t wait for anybody; you don’t go at your own pace,” said Strickland. “There is a specific curriculum, a specific syllabus that you have to complete by a certain amount of time.”
After IFS the, instructors begin to teach basic Airmanship including flying, taking off, landings and basic aerobatics. Students then progress to learning how to fly with instruments, different weather situations and formation flying. Learning how to land was a sticking point for Strickland during his time at pilot training. It took him a while to understand until one of his instructors told him about looking down to the end of the runway and picturing himself floating down.
“For some reason, the way he explained it clicked, and I was able to land from that point on without any issues,” he said.
After learning all of these things, the pilots make the decision to go on the fighter pilot track or the heavy track.
“I was not a huge fan of being in the plane myself,” said Strickland. “I like the concept of being with a crew and having someone to back you up. So I chose to go the T-1 Jayhawk route which is the heavy trainer.”
Strickland found his interest in air refueling during the last phase of pilot training, mobility fundamentals. Many of Strickland’s instructor pilots were former KC-135 Stratotanker pilots. They inspired him to be a tanker pilot with their stories about the different aspects of flying the KC-135 and the tanker lifestyle.
Before leaving pilot training, pilots are given a list of the planes that are available and the students rank them by what they want to fly.
“The KC-135 was the second plane on my list and Fairchild Air Force Base was the first location I wanted for the KC-135, so I was pretty pumped,” he added.
Following graduation from pilot school, Strickland was sent to Fairchild to complete the Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape school before attending the specific training for the KC-135. Being taken out of the comfort of everyday living and realizing the situations that SERE simulates and how they could be real one day led Strickland to learn things about himself he didn’t know before.
“SERE really teaches you to be resilient,” said Strickland, “and to trust in everything the United States and the Air Force stands for.”
After SERE training, Strickland went to Altus AFB, Oklahoma, where he completed a five-month course to get acquainted with the KC-135 Stratotanker.
“While at Altus, they kind of bring you into the brotherhood of tanker pilots and it’s really cool,” he said.
Strickland reflected on his journey through pilot training by saying, “When I graduated the academy, I thought ‘I’m going to be a pilot. I’m pretty much already a pilot.’ I was super prideful. Going through training was a humbling experience, because you recognize that you’re not good at flying. There were moments where I thought I was going to wash out.”
It was because of this that Strickland studied more and learned more than if he was able to simply breeze through it.
| Date Taken: | 11.17.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 11.18.2015 13:53 |
| Story ID: | 182264 |
| Location: | FAIRCHILD AIR FORCE BASE, WASHINGTON, US |
| Web Views: | 75 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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