Pilot sets record en route to Red Flag 10-2

by Tech. Sgt. Chris Stagner
Red Flag Public Affairs

1/27/2010 - NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, Nev. -- Red Flag exercises bring a lot to the table. It's the largest exercise of its kind in the world. Traditionally, Airmen leave Red Flag as better warfighters than they were when they arrived. One Airman will leave Red Flag with more than training and experience; he'll leave it as a record holder.

Lt. Col. Dave Iverson, deployed to Red Flag from RAF Lakenheath, U.K., where he is the 492nd Fighter Squadron commander, became the only active duty F-15E Strike Eagle pilot to surpass the 4,000 flying hours mark while he was in transit to the exercise. That number increased as he continued to hone his ability to fly, fight and win.

Seventeen years in the making, Lt. Col. David Iverson holds the 4,000 hours patch he can now wear after a 10.1 hour flight in an F-15E Strike Eagle from Royal Air Force Lakenheath, England, to Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, Jan. 11, 2010. Colonel Iverson surpassed the milestone while en route to the United States to participate in Red Flag 10-2 at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev. (Courtesy Boeing photo/Lance Cheung)

His career in the F-15E started in 1993 when he graduated pilot training and arrived at Luke Air Force Base, Ariz. The pilot couldn't comprehend as a student at Luke that he'd one day spend almost half a year of his life in the cockpit of the Strike Eagle.

"At that point I was just trying to learn as much as I could, fly the plane as well as I could and be the best Airman I could," Colonel Iverson said.

He's since spent the last 17 years flying the F-15E, and those hours have ranged from training other pilots to fly the Strike Eagle to flying combat sorties in operations Northern and Southern Watch, Deny Flight and Enduring Freedom.

The diversity in Colonel Iverson's flying career is mirrored in his career as an Airman.

"Colonel Iverson has made contributions to the F-15 community as a weapons officer, member of the test squadron, a director of operations and a commander," said Col. John Quintas, Air Expeditionary Wing commander deployed from RAF Lakenheath where he is the 48th Operations Group commander. "While 4,000 flying hours in the airframe is impressive, it's not nearly as impressive as the wide-ranging contributions he's made to the Strike Eagle community as an Airman."

Colonel Iverson's passion might be flying, but it's what he accomplishes when he's in the air that brings it home for him.

"It's a very gratifying experience to know you're supporting the guys on the ground," he said. "We help them achieve their objectives, or we help them get into a safe position if their objectives can't be met.

"On the door leaving Life Support (at a base he was assigned to) in Afghanistan, when you step to the jet there's a sign that says, 'Your mission is the 18 year old with the rifle. Don't you ever forget it'. I take that to heart when I think about our role [as Strike Eagle pilots] in supporting the men and women on the ground. It doesn't matter if it's an American or one of our coalition partners, when we fly the Strike Eagle we're there to support the 18 year olds with rifles."

As much as the commander loves that aspect of his job, it's just a part of what makes him love being an Airman even more.

"The flying I've done is just hours," the pilot said. "With our current overseas contingency responsibilities you'll see a lot more people break the 4,000-hour mark. I'm just fortunate to be on the leading edge of it.

"When you first start flying it's your main job. It's still my job, but now I think it's more important to me as a commander that I take care of my people and their families. If I'm taking care of them and enabling them to execute the mission, then we'll always come out on top of our combat operations. I feel fortunate that flying allowed me to do this with the men and women of the 492nd Fighter Squadron."