Preview: Last Raptor to be delivered next Wednesday

Next Wednesday on 2 May, the US Air Force will formally take\ndelivery of the last F-22 Raptor from Lockheed Martin. Amongst the delegation\nattending the ceremonies will be 3d Wing commander Col Dirk Smith, 525^th\nFighter Squadron commander Lt Col Paul \"Max\" Moga and Lt Col Dave \"Piff\" Piffarerio--commander\nof the Air Force Reserve's 302^nd Fighter Squadron.

The last Raptor, tail 10-4195, will be based at Elmendorf\nAFB as the flagship of the 525^th Fighter Squadron--part of the 3rd\nWing. But it is not the only jet being flown home. Tail 10-4193 is also making\nthe long journey to Alaska and will become the Wing's new flagship.

Moga and Smith will fly the jets home on Friday, 4 May. In\nthe meantime, the pilots will train on advanced networked simulators at the\nLockheed facility, Piffarerio says. The simulator can replicate extremely\nchallenging scenarios that are difficult to undertake during real training\nexercises.  

Piffarerio is the most experienced F-22 Raptor pilot\nanywhere with a total of about 1060 hours in the jet. He first flew the F-22\nback in 2004 as part of a second batch of operational testers at Nellis AFB's\n422^nd TES.

Piffarerio came to Alaska after transferring over to the Air\nForce Reserves in 2007--but in a full-time capacity. That allows him and other\nfull-time Reservists to remain at operational squadrons far longer than their\nactive duty counterparts. While they don't fly any more often per week than an\nactive duty pilot, because they stay at flying units longer, officers like\nPiffarerio gain more hours and become a repository of experience for the USAF.

At a day-to-day level, at an associate reserve unit there is\nlittle difference between active pilots and full-time reservists. \"The thought\nthat we do here is we put the right person in the right job no matter what\npatch that they're wearing,\" Piffarerio says.

The sortie where he hit 1000 hrs on 4 November 2011\nhighlights the close relationship between the 3^rd Wing and reserve's\n477^th Fighter Group.

It was a somewhat unique circumstance because it happened\nshortly after last year's Raptor grounding was lifted and because Piffarerio\nwas tasked to give 3^rd Wing commander Col Dirk Smith his check ride.\nSmith was undergoing his initial qualifications after returning to flying the\nRaptor following a tour at US Central Command.

\"I knew it was getting really close, and since we were\nscheduled to hot-pit [refuel], I was right at 998 or so, I knew it would\nprobably happen that day,\" Piffarerio says. \"It wasn't like it was planned\nnecessarily.\"

It was on the second sortie that Piffarerio hit the\n1,000-hour mark. Smith passed the check ride; he was already a highly experienced\nRaptor pilot who had previously overseen the 94^th Fighter Squadron's\ntransition to the F-22.