Honorary commanders visit Edwards one last time

  • Published
  • By Rebecca Amber
  • Staff writer
EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  The 2014 Edwards Honorary Commanders and their guests gathered Feb. 6 for the last event of their one-year term. The theme for the tour was "Flight Test at Edwards" and the 412th Operations Group was given the privilege of conveying that story.

By the end of the day, the tour participants had a broader understanding of how flight test at Edwards is planned, executed and reported on every day.

"A big part of it was to show them some of the hardware, but more importantly was to show them the people - that's more impressive than the hardware," said Col. Rodney Todaro, 412th Operations Group commander.

At the 418th Flight Test Squadron, the Global Reach Combined Test Force, the group learned what it takes to plan a test mission. Then they were invited to board a C-17 where they learned about aircraft instrumentation and its role in flight test.

In contrast to the heavy aircraft, each person on the tour had the opportunity to sit in the cockpit of an F-16 fighter. While at the 416th FLTS, they were briefed on the aircraft's systems, like the Auto Air/ground Collision Avoidance software, which is "a big success."

"We are spending the nation's treasure. In this fiscal environment, money is very important; it's important that folks understand what we're spending it on and why it is of value for our country."

The next stop was 148-feet off the ground in the air traffic control tower.

"This is probably the most complex tower in the Air Force, in terms of what they control. Very complex patterns and airspace and airfields and runways and lakebeds, it's unlike anywhere else in the Air Force," said Todaro.

In fact, one of the air traffic controllers on duty stated that she had never seen a lakebed runway until she arrived at Edwards. 

Honorary commander Donna Termeer, district director for California Assemblyman Tom Lackey, 36th District, attended the tour with district representative Brittani Daniels as her guest.

For Termeer, the trip to the tower was the highlight of the day.

"I was amazed," said Termeer. "I heard those statistics of the length and the width of our runways and how unique our base here is...seeing it from the tower was so impressive."

Daniels, who had never visited the base before added, "I've never been on anything like this [tour]. The whole thing was mind blowing."

The last stop of the day tied it all together.

At the Ridley Mission Control Center they saw first-hand where the data from each flight is collected, analyzed and reported on to provide information for decision makers. Their team is made up of personnel from several groups including the operations, electronic warfare and engineering groups.

"Many of [the individuals in the control room] are very young, in their 20s or 30s and each one of them is empowered for test reasons to call stop and have us stop testing in the air," said Todaro.

On many occasions that proves invaluable.

One such incident happened during an F-35 test mission when the nose boom cracked. The pilot did not notice it because it was out of his line of sight, but an engineer sitting in the control room spoke up and the aircraft diverted to Point Magu Naval Air Station in Oxnard, California.

"It was something you could very easily miss, but that individual was paying enough attrition and knew 'hey that's not quite right' and spoke up," said Todaro. "It's a detail-oriented business in many respects."

According to Todaro, the 412th OG would not fly a single sortie without every other group in the wing. Throughout the honorary commander's season, they got a chance to see just that. Over the year, the group was invited to the 412th Mission Support Group, 412th Civil Engineering, the 412th Medical Group and the U.S.A.F. Test Pilot School.

"I think the tours are set up as such that you really understand how Edwards integrates itself and how it supports our nation, and the world actually," said honorary commander Dianne Knippel, Southern California Edison Public Affairs regional director.

"Seeing everything from flight test to operations to deployment has just been an eye-opening experience to understand the commitment quality of our entire force out here - it's just an amazing place."

Knippel was accompanied by her husband, Donald, who works for Lockheed Martin. For him, seeing what goes on "behind the scenes" to support a flight test mission was impressive. Seeing two F-35s taxi out as they boarded the C-17 was "awe-inspiring."

Edwards has around 70 aircraft and around 12 different types of aircraft, but the exact number changes almost daily. Of those aircraft, very few are redundant because each one has been instrumented for a specific test. Across the 412th OG and the test pilot school, they fly an average of 50-60 sorties a day.

"What we do for the Air Force, for the country, is very important," said Todaro.

But, he added that it would not happen without support from the community. The honorary commander's program gave him an opportunity to connect with people from the Antelope Valley that he would not normally have met. 

"Many of our kids go to school [in the Antelope Valley]; we shop there, spouses work there. That's a big part of us."

As the current honorary commanders step down, Todaro looks forward to meeting the individuals who will fill their slots in the spring.

"Every time I come out I'm just so reminded of what a treasure this base is to us because it's so important to our economy in the Antelope Valley," said Termeer, reflecting on the past year. "Seeing the commitment and the passion of everybody out here that's protecting us is just incredible."