Colonel Kelly hits
3,000 Strike Eagle flight hours
by Airman 1st Class Rae
Perry
4th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
10/15/2009 - SEYMOUR JOHNSON AIR
FORCE BASE, N.C. -- Col. Mark Kelly, 4th Fighter Wing commander, is
one of less than 20 pilots in the world to achieve the milestone of
3,000 hours in the F-15E Strike Eagle. He began his flying career
immediately after being commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant in the Air
Force in 1986. Colonel Kelly has flown the F-15E for more than 18 years
and of his 3,000 plus flight hours, more than 400 of them have been in
combat. In addition to the Strike Eagle, Colonel Kelly has also flown
the F/A-18 Hornet while on exchange with the Royal Australian Air Force.

Col. Mark Kelly, 4th Fighter Wing commander, and
Maj. James Crider, 4th Aeromedical Dental Squadron flight medicine
primary care physician, taxi under fire truck spray at Seymour Johnson
Air Force Base, N.C., Oct. 9, 2009. Colonel Kelly has logged more than
5,000 flight hours during his military career, 3,000 of those in the
F-15E Strike Eagle. (U.S. Air Force photo/Airman 1st Class Rae Perry)

Col. Mark Kelly, 4th Fighter Wing commander, poses
with his wife Tanya after completing his 3,000th flight hour in the
F-15E Strike Eagle at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, N.C., Oct. 9. The
Strike Eagle is one of four aircraft Colonel Kelly has flown since
receiving his commission in 1986. (U.S. Air Force photo/Airman 1st Class
Rae Perry)