Page 12 - Aerotech News and Review, July 20 2018

Blake is new commandant at Test Pilot School
by Kenji Thuloweit
Edwards AFB, Calif.
Col. Ryan Blake took the helm as the new commandant of the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., dur- ing a change of command ceremony held in Hangar 1207, July 10.
As commandant of TPS, Blake will drive the school’s strategic vision, set organizational objectives and direct a $32.5 million budget
overseeing the day-to-day operations of the world’s premier test pilot school.
Blake graduated from TPS in December 2008 and is both a seasoned combat pilot and test pilot. He previously served as the 96th Op- erations Group commander at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, and before that was a test pilot and flight test squadron commander. He is a command pilot with more than 2,400 military flight hours in 44 aircraft types as an experi- mental test pilot, instructor pilot and evaluator
pilot.
“When you look at
the wall (of former commandants) in the schoolhouse, you see household names like Chuck Yeager and Buzz Aldrin ... to be selected as the new commandant is very humbling,” Blake said.
Col. Matthew Higer, who served as com- mandant for the past year, is moving on to become a wing com- mander at another base.
Since 1951, the school at Edwards AFB is where the Air Force’s top pilots, nav- igators and engineers
Brig. Gen. Carl Schaefer, 412th Test Wing commander (left), and new learn how to conduct school. Upon graduating from TPS, graduates
U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School commandant, Col. Ryan Blake, pose with the school’s guidon during a change of command ceremony in Hangar 1207, July 10, 2018.
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Air Force photographs by Kenji Thuloweit
New U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School commandant Col. Ryan Blake (center) is flanked by Brig. Gen. Carl Schaefer, 412th Test Wing commander (left), and outgoing commandant, Col. Matthew Higer (right), during a change of command ceremony in Hangar 1207, July 10, 2018.
Human lives and millions of dollars depend upon how carefully a test mission is planned and flown. The comprehensive, one-year cur- riculum of TPS is fundamental to the success of flight test and evaluation, according to the
for our nation and our allies,” said Brig. Gen. Carl Schaefer, 412th Test Wing commander, who presided over the ceremony. “You prepare our finest officers and civilians to conduct and support elevated-risk flight test every day to ensure Air Force, joint, coalition, mission suc- cess across the globe. You are the producer of astronauts and leaders in our Air Force, Navy and numerous countries.”
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