T-50A Test Pilot Achieves Milestone: 100 Hours in the Sky!
Lockheed Martin Achieves Milestone with T-50A Test Pilot
Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] test pilot Elliott “Hemo” Clemence has recently celebrated a significant achievement, logging 100 flight hours in the T-50A, which is the company’s contender for the U.S. Air Force’s Advanced Pilot Training (APT) competition.
“The T-50A is an exceptional aircraft, designed for both teaching new pilots essential airmanship skills and training them in advanced tactical environments,” Clemence remarked. “The integration of our aircraft’s capabilities with the Ground-Based Training System elevates the training process to unprecedented levels.”
Achieving the 100-hour mark occurred during an annual proficiency check ride in Greenville, South Carolina.
In February 2016, Lockheed Martin disclosed its commitment to introducing the T-50A in the APT competition, with plans to manufacture the aircraft at a final assembly and checkout (FACO) facility in Greenville, which officially opened in August 2016.
Flight operations commenced at the Greenville site in November 2016. The team was diligently working towards the proposal deadline in March 2017 while preparing to submit the necessary flight test data by the end of June.
The T-50A is strategically designed for immediate readiness upon contract award, developed with a 5th Generation mindset. It aims to train the upcoming pilots of the U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning II, as well as pilots operating frontline 4th Generation aircraft. Building upon the established heritage of the T-50 family, over 150 T-50s are currently in operation, boasting an impressive 150,000 flight hours and more than 2,000 trained pilots.
Lockheed Martin’s innovative T-50A Ground-Based Training System (GBTS) features cutting-edge technologies that provide an immersive and synchronized training experience. The GBTS is fully integrated with the T-50A, ensuring Live, Virtual, Constructive (LVC) training capabilities today.
