Raptor Surge

Posted 24 September 2012

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Photo by MSgt. Michael Ammons

The 43rd Fighter Squadron at Tyndall AFB, Florida, the F-22 training unit, set a new flying record on 24 September 2012, accomplishing fifty-three local sorties in one day. The squadron normally averages from eighteen to twenty-four sorties per day. The surge began in the morning, launching roughly three sets of ten F-22s in the morning and three sets of eight F-22s in the afternoon. Pilots flew, landed, taxied to a hot pit to refuel, and then returned to flight. Only instructor pilots took part in the surge to ensure they met currency and proficiency requirements before the end of the fiscal year in October. The previous flying record by one F-22 fighter squadron was believed to be forty-six sorties in one day.

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