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The 43rd Fighter Squadron at Tyndall AFB, Florida — the F-22 Raptor schoolhouse — reached the 5,000-flying-hour mark collectively on 20 September. Tyndall is the second base to achieve the 5,000-hour milestone with the Raptor. The Air Force Flight Test Center at Edwards AFB, California, was the first. The first local sortie for the Raptor at Tyndall took place 31 October 2003. The 43rd has increased its annual flying hours every year since. In fiscal year 2006, the 43rd F-22s spent 2,770 hours airborne for a fifty percent increase over FY05. Since standing up as the only F-22 flying training squadron, the 43rd FS has produced seventy-four F-22 pilots.
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