SOUTHWEST ASIA -- Lt. Col. Bryan “Jaws” Meek, 179th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron chief of weapons and tactics, reached 2,000 flying hours in the F-16 Fighting Falcon April 27, 2018, at an undisclosed location in Southwest Asia.
Lt. Col Nathan Aysta, 179th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron commander, has known Meek for years and presented him with the 2,000-hour flying patch after landing.
“Jaws just flew his 2,000th hour in the F-16, which is a huge milestone for fighter pilots that takes many years of experience and training.” Aysta said. “It’s really neat that he gets to earn it here at this deployed location.”
Not every pilot reaches this milestone; in fact, it’s fairly rare to reach 2,000 hours in one single aircraft, he added.
In addition to the 2,000 hours in the F-16, Meek, a native of Liberal, Kansas, has also accumulated approximately a combined total of 1,000 hours in the T-37 Tweet, T-38 Talon and a T-6 Texan II.
After many hours in the cock pit, it was definitely a unique experience to reach this milestone while deployed, Meek added.
“He is on the tip of the spear doing the job that our nation has called us to do and to reach this milestone while he’s performing a real world mission is pretty special,” Aysta said.