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Four pilots from the 62nd FS at Luke AFB, Arizona, broke a Lockheed Martin active-duty flying record last June. During a morning sortie, the pilots established a record of 12,699 hours for the highest career flying-hour total by active-duty pilots in a four-ship formation of F-16s. The four-ship from the 62nd FS was made up of Col. Dennis Rea, 56th Fighter Wing vice commander; Lt. Col. Dave McMickell, 62nd FS operations officer; Lt. Col. John Beckham, 56th Training Squadron chief academic instructor; and Lt. Col. Mike Comnick, 56th Operations Group deputy commander. Colonel Rea finished the flight with exactly 3,000 flying hours and Colonel McMickell finished with 3,002.6 flying hours, both breaking the 3,000 mark. Colonel Beckham finished with 3,096.1 flying hours and Colonel Comnick finished with 3,600.5 flying hours, for a grand total of 12,699.2 flying hours. “It is an honor to be among professionals in the F-16 aviation business who were given the opportunity to fly for so long, continuously honing basic fighter skills,” Comnick said. “What is rare is having this many experienced pilots in the same squadron at the same time since the active-duty mix (frequency of changing duty locations) is much more dynamic. I am humbled that I could be a part of this active-duty record.” The total number of hours, 12,699.2, broke the previous active-duty record by about 250 hours. |
