James “JB” Brown gets a “cold” reception                 James "JB" Brown in the cockpit of the the F-22 Raptor
after landing from a flight where he surpassed
1,000 flight hours in an F-22 Raptor.

What distinction does James “JB” Brown have that no other F-22 Raptor test pilot has? More than 1,000 flight hours in the Raptor, that’s what.

Brown, who is the Lockheed Martin F-22 chief test pilot at Edwards Air Force Base (AFB), Calif., surpassed the momentous milestone on April 6. He was feted for his achievement with a dosing of cold water from teammates at Edwards AFB, immediately upon landing.

Logging a significant amount of hours in a fighter cockpit isn’t anything unique for Brown, who has 950-plus hours flying F-4s and F-117s. But, it was the stealthy F-22 Raptor that established new personal and company records.

He’s been flying the Raptor for Lockheed Martin since 2002. Previous to this, he flew the F-117 for the company as a test pilot. Brown joined Lockheed Martin in 1994 after 14 years in the U.S. Air Force, where he flew F-4s, F-5s and F-15s.
Brown and the Raptor have spent a lot of time together, which is why the delivery of the last raptor – tail number 4195 – on May 2 is yet another milestone for him.

“One of best parts of this job is watching the F-22 Raptor mature and progress,” Brown said, adding that he will be in Marietta for the final delivery.

Brown continues to fly F-22s at Edwards AFB and log more hours – which is just one of the reasons he said he loves his job.

“[With this job], you never have the same two days in a row,” he said. “Plus, flying the F-22 Raptor is just plain cool.”

Source: http://www.lockheedmartin.com/us/news/features/2012/f22-1000-hours.html

First flight of the RR Trent XWB engine mounted on the wing of the A380 Msn001, F-WWOW

The pilots for this flight were Terry Lutz (AF) and Frank Chapman (AF).

View the Press Release for full details.

Mark Dickerson, an SETP Associate Fellow and former Board member, has created a flight test blog that gives the latest information on current flight test activity.   Mark has also served on the Flight Test Technical Committee of the American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics.  He is the author or co-author of several technical papers and was the editor and production coordinator for the 2003 “Centennial of Flight” Edition of the SETP Pilots Handbook for Critical and Exploratory Flight Testing.  A former USAF test pilot with over 4,800 hours in more than 60 different types of aircraft, Dickerson has experience in multiple flight test disciplines and has managed acquisition, test, and flight research projects with the military, with industry, and as a civil servant with NASA.  Keep up to date on flight test activities at http://flighttesttoday.blogspot.com