Maintainers qualifying on F-35

EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. - The first group of military maintainers at the 33rd Fighter Wing recently qualified in numerous F-35A flight inspections by a uniformed certifier, a task only civilian certifiers initially were contracted to support. "This first-ever Air Force to Air Force on-the-job training event is an important milestone,” said Lt. Col. Michael Miles, commander, 33rd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron. With hundreds of verifications on joint technical data on how to maintain the aircraft left to be accomplished for each of the three F-35 variants in 2012 and beyond, the military maintainers are not ready to take over, but are moving forward. (Source: Team Eglin, 12/22/11)