A Ukrainian pilot with the call sign Phantom showed an F-16 with Ukrainian markings.
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A pilot today is learning to fly a fighter plane.
Our pilots are very surprised. This aircraft simply exceeded their expectations. Even with the amount of information they received during training, they already see great promise and a lot of groundwork for how this aircraft will help our air force increase the ability of our combat aviation, Phantom is quoted by Voice of America.
Training of Ukrainian pilots on the F-16 began in October in the USA and November in Romania.
According to the pilot, retraining has its own challenges, because this fighter is very different from the Soviet Su-27 and MiG-29, which Ukrainian fighter aircraft currently fly.
Our guys went in advance to assess one of the air bases in the United States to evaluate their abilities, abilities and determine the timing (of training). Again, these were general deadlines that we can meet. And our pilots did not waste their time, they prepared as best they could, and these same pilots helped us with information from open sources – of course, that which they could share with us, and even their experience. Therefore, I will say that the guys who left in the first wave were prepared both morally and had a basic knowledge base,” Phantom said.
As for the timing, it takes about 6 months to train one pilot or one group. The nuances that slow down preparations are related to the administrative work of Ukraine’s partners.
Everyone wants to get planes as soon as possible, but things don’t usually work that way. Aviation is a very complex system; it is not one tank or one gun mount. There are a lot of personnel working on an airplane and it’s a big system. And a pilot or technician is a small cog in a big system,” said the Ukrainian pilot.
As for the challenges, for Ukrainians this is a new plane, a new generation machine, a more digitalized plane. It has many systems and programs that need to be entered during the flight and before the flight.
We haven’t encountered anything like this, our training is a little different, and our plane is much simpler than the F-16. And also the approach to preparation and flight operations is completely different. Here, more independent preparation is required, no one is above their soul, so it was a little difficult for them to readjust mentally. But, as I already said, they are very motivated and the desire to quickly relearn overcomes all these difficulties.
Source: Racurs
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.