Visiting Pilots Put U.S. Fighter Jets to the Test

Lt. Cmdr. Bill Chubb likes what he hears when a new test pilot hits the throttle of an F-14 fighter jet.

“When you light up the afterburner and you feel how much it accelerates, you hear, ‘Oh my, this is nice,’ ” he said.

Chubb has been sitting in the back-seat of the fighter planes as a small team of European test pilots and one engineer from a British test-pilot school learn how the planes handle.

The men are flying the American jets for the first time--and to hear them tell it, it’s one heck of a ride.

“I’ve never flown an aircraft so big and so powerful,” said Remy Dosdat, 32, a French Air Force pilot, who is more accustomed to the smaller French Mirage. “I’m going to miss it.”

Dosdat flew the F-14 for the third time Thursday. He is visiting Point Mugu with Mark Lewis, also 32, a British test pilot, and Heilke Bosma, 29, a flight engineer from The Netherlands. The trio attends the Empire Test Pilots’ School in Boscombe Down, England. Also visiting Point Mugu with the three students is Mike Wettlaufer, an American tutor at the British school.

The group is participating in an exchange program at the Naval Weapons Test Squadron, which is part of the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division at Point Mugu. The base tests various weapons and aircraft, including missile and radar systems.

The visit by the two test pilots and one engineer is part of the international team’s final assignment at the British school before they graduate in December.

The students’ job: Pretend their own air force is purchasing the F-14 and evaluate whether the aircraft would be a suitable weapon for use in certain circumstances, such as air-to-ground attacks and maintaining air superiority.

The two-week exchange program is one of several that have been arranged in recent years as European nations and the U.S. work more closely together in military operations.

Chubb, who coordinated this exchange, said he and the international trio have been deployed in hot spots like Iraq and Bosnia, but that was before they were introduced to each other at Point Mugu.

“As you’re flying out of Bosnia, the Brits or the French are coming in to relieve you,” he said.

When the pilots return to England at week’s end, they will begin compiling a report on the F-14’s effectiveness.

But this week, they are flying what Chubb calls the 1960’s-era Corvette of U.S. air power. The F-14 doesn’t corner well, but it’s full of raw power, he said.

The international team has flown nearly 30 aircraft during its training in the yearlong British program, Bosma said. But the group agrees the F-14’s controls are less forgiving than those of smaller, newer and more maneuverable planes.

“I thought that the aircraft would have been more stable,” Dosdat said.

While computer-controlled systems in other planes make it more difficult for pilots to get into trouble, the group said the F-14’s mechanical controls are a different story. A wrong move can cause the plane to “depart,” an ugly scenario where the wings stop producing lift and the pilot loses control.

“These guys understand the onset of that stuff way early,” Chubb said of the test pilots.

The group picked up a quick rundown on the American jet in a simulator, then began taking the real thing into the skies off Point Mugu and beyond. They had planned a simulated bombing run near China Lake Thursday, but bad afternoon weather prompted the team to put the kibosh on the flight.

“They really need good weather to take off and come back,” Bosma said. As the only flight engineer among the group, Bosma collects information from test flights, analyzes it using computers and conducts other research on just what a military plane is capable of doing.

“I’m always sitting in the back, observing and taking notes,” he said.

Whether exchanging friendly jabs in a briefing room or talking shop in the shadow of a hulking F-14 on the base’s tarmac, where a dozen of the planes loom in hangars or sit near runways, Bosma said members of the group share one thing in common: A love of aviation and a desire to do their jobs well.

If there is any difference he has noted in working with American pilots, it’s a U.S. preoccupation with military and flight procedures. It makes for safe flying, and much of it is necessary, but in some situations, “for Europeans, it’s annoying,” Bosma said.

There are other cultural differences as well. The Europeans couldn’t believe they got their choice of toast with breakfast at a restaurant, Chubb said. And they are in awe of how far their dollars go in the United States.

“They get a huge kick out of coming over here . . . Cheap beer, cheap cigarettes,” he said. And “they were fortunate enough to fly a Navy F-14.”