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Ninja arrives at Pax River after the 7 hour flight
from the Azores. Credit: Lockheed Martin
Answer: “We had four aircraft total; and kept tight formation; and refueled in the
clouds as well. We had two C-130s just in the case; the tanker, a Typhoon headed to Red
Flag and the F-35.”
Question: So you were in a new aircraft, single engine, flying in the middle of winter
across the North Atlantic in heavy headwinds?
Answer: That characterizes it.
Question: Did you hand fly the plane to stay in formation?
Answer: The plane is very reliable, and I hand flew some times, but auto pilot handled a
great deal of the flight.
Question: What about the air refueling events?
Second Line of Defense Lessons Learned at Pax River
! 3! 6
