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Bagram Airman reaches 3000 flight hours

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Richard Williams
  • 455th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan --  A Bagram weapons systems officer assigned to the 455th Air Expeditionary Wing reached a major flying milestone Jan. 24, 2010, when he logged his 3,000th flying hour.

Lt. Col. John Bunnell, 494th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron commander, a weapons system officer deployed from Royal Air Force Lakenheath, England, completed a four-hour combat mission to place him over the 3,000 hour mark.

"This is a nice milestone for me," Colonel Bunnell said. "We get some recognition when we go over 1,000 or 2,000 flying hours and for some pilots who are lucky enough we receive enough flying assignments to reach the 3,000 hour mark."

Colonel Bunnell, a Birmingham, Ala. native, said although he would love to fly in the F-15E Strike Eagle for the rest of his career, but he knows that may not be practical due to assignments.

"I'm happy that I got to accomplish my 3,000th hour here in my last few months in command of the 494th EFS," he said. "I'm expecting a permanent change of station at the end of the summer and I don't know if I will move to a flying squadron."

Reaching more than 3,000 flying hours is not common for F-15 fighter pilots or weapons systems officers, but a few times a year some will reach the 3,000 mark and there are only a handful who are fortunate enough to get that chance and continue to fly.

The more than 3,000 flying hours completed in Bunnell's 19 years, beginning with his commission in 1990, has allowed him to complete 120 combat sorties and compile more than 370 combat flight hours.

"I hope to pick up a few hundred more flight hours while I'm here and if I'm lucky enough I will get another great flying assignment, but I will have to see where the Air Force takes me," Colonel Bunnel said.