Testing the Skies

It is not your typical final exam:

Fly a Navy fighter jet across Southern California at 800 mph, dropping some dummy bombs along the way. When you land, write a detailed report analyzing everything from the plane’s engine performance to its cutting-edge radar system.

And remember, this is a U.S. Navy F-14 Tomcat fighter jet--a plane you have never flown before, even though you are a top student in England’s prestigious Empire Test Pilot School.

Such is the mission of Graham Archer and Thierry Diez, two student test pilots at Point Mugu Navy Base this week. Archer hails from Edinburgh, Scotland, while Diez is a test pilot for the French military and is training in England this year.

As part of an international military exchange program, they capped a year of pilot school in the cockpit of a U.S. Navy fighter jet.

Moments after touching down from a trial flight this week, Archer said, he was “more excited than nervous” at the controls. He had soaked in plenty of sun during the 90-minute round trip from Point Mugu to San Diego.

“It’s nice to fly in this weather and the coast was just beautiful,” said Archer, 33. “We have a lot of bad weather in England.”

This is the second year Point Mugu has hosted foreign pilots under the international program. In past years, many U.S. Navy pilots have flown foreign jets at the Empire Test School and other European training sites, base officials said.

Persuading the Pentagon to let foreign pilots fly U.S. Tomcats was not easy. Capt. Dave Kennedy, commander of the test squadron at Point Mugu Naval Air Weapons Station, said skeptics questioned whether the Navy should devote resources to such a program in an era of tight budgets and downsizing. Moreover, they wondered if it is wise to give foreign soldiers access to top U.S. technology.

“A bean counter might look at this and say you don’t need to do it, but I know it’s essential,” Kennedy said. “If we don’t do these kind of exchanges, what we do will just wither away and die. It’s great to rub shoulders with world-class pilots.”

The program at Point Mugu moved ahead this week, despite a crash at Edwards Air Force Base on Oct. 22 that killed a U.S. Air Force pilot and a visiting British Royal Air Force flier. The tragedy occurred when a T-38 training jet carrying the U.S. and British pilots collided with an F-16 fighter jet. Both pilots aboard the F-16 were uninjured, and base officials have launched an investigation into the cause of the crash.

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The British pilot who died, Flight Lt. Leigh Alexander Fox, was at Edwards under a separate, long-term exchange program. Both Archer and Simon Smith, an instructor at the Test Empire School who came along to Point Mugu this week to monitor his students, knew Fox.

But the pilots continued their program this week after attending a memorial service at Edwards.

“If you get frightened, it’s time to quit,” Smith said. “It’s an occupational hazard, and aviation is an unforgiving business. You carry on.”

Point Mugu officials say they have emphasized safety to the visiting pilots and tried to remain upbeat.

“To tell you the truth, when one of our fellow aviators dies, it gives you pause,” said Lt. Scott Fisher, who runs the exchange program at Point Mugu. “But you resolve these things on the ground. It’s called compartmentalization.”

The base gains more than a morale boost from its work with NATO allies: It also will make $100,000 from the British military for the 14 hours of flight time set aside for Archer and Diez. Officials emphasized that equipment and information the pilots have access to are not classified.

“We’re not giving secrets away,” Kennedy said.

Archer and Diez began their U.S. training in a hangar at Oceana Navy Base in Virginia last week. There, they took a course in the F-14, with rigorous test runs in F-14 simulators. Worst-case scenarios included severe turbulence and engine burnouts.

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They came to Point Mugu last week and launched into an intensive classroom course of the F-14 D, the most up-to-date version of the fighter jet. Unlike its predecessors, that model has an infrared sighting system and is equipped with more destructive bombs.

But Archer and Diez are not here to gawk over the fighter jets’ powerful equipment. As test pilots, they are trained to be skeptical of military hardware and look for flaws. Such a critical eye is necessary because they will be involved in weapons development in their own countries and spend their days ironing out problems in new jet models.

Smith, the Empire Test School instructor, said he will be eager to see what kind of criticisms Archer and Diez have of U.S. Navy planes. The F-14 has some drawbacks, he said: It does not bank as quickly and crisply as some other planes, and it has difficulty landing in stiff crosswinds.

Nonetheless, both test pilots seemed impressed by the Tomcats.

“The more you fly it, the more you like it,” said Diez, 30. “This airplane was conceived 25 years ago, but they’ve modernized the cockpit. I like the feel of the airplane; it talks to you.”

After they leave Mugu next week, the pilots will have two weeks to write lengthy reports on their F-14 flights and the plane’s performance. In the meantime, they are having some fun. They brought along a cricket paddle and are teaching Point Mugu test pilots the rules of that sport.

“They’re a joy,” said Navy Lt. Rg Lutz. “They’ve got these accents and they’re very witty. But they’re definitely the cream of the crop. They work hard and they play hard.”

Still, there were some dramatic moments in the air this week. The flaps on Diez’s F-14 got stuck and would not open during one test flight. That made it hard to slow the plane while landing.

Fisher was seated in the back of the plane during the difficult landing. He said the moment was tense because the F-14 is a “one-stick” plane--the only controls are in the front.

But the French pilot touched down safely.

“Test pilots are known for their golden hands,” Fisher said. “They came well-prepared.”