Tom Hill

Friday's Fabulous Flyer

Tom Hill "Sulu"

Many of you will recognize the name Tom Hill. He is an avid reader and writes the most incredible comments... inspiring and supporting our future aviators. He is also an articulate and talented writer who has made my life easy by sharing his story first person. 

Please meet an incredible man:

Hi all, I'm Tom Hill. 

Some of my friends from my military aviation days call me Sulu. I pretty much respond to anything, so call me what you want. I corresponded with Karlene a while ago about a desire I have to help anyone interested in the flight test business. I have almost 30 years of military aviation experience of which 20 were spent doing flight test. I thought up an idea years ago: "With all my specialized experience, how can I contribute to anyone interested, especially our young dreamers?" Not having a real forum to work this idea, it sat idle for years. Until now.

I discovered Karlene's blog accidentally. Like lots of things on the web, you just discover things, sometimes by simply connecting to one link, then another, then another. I think that's how I found Karlene's wonderful site.

Not knowing what else to do I sent Karlene a little (okay, it was 3,500 words long) missive on my aviation background. Between naps on a Far East trip she sent a little encouraging note back saying, "Wow, that's long!" (I paraphrase, since she's too sweet to say it quite that way.) She also said, "I have an idea." Her idea was maybe we can do a long term project where I could write a few articles about key factors/events that allowed me to succeed in my career field. I said, "Sure. I'm game." We'll see where it goes.

Without getting too deep let me give you a little about me: I am a US Air Force experimental test pilot. I am retired from the military and I am now a government employee, still flying as a test pilot here in Southern New Mexico, at Holloman AFB. Aviation has always been a part of my life since my dad was a USAF navigator and aerospace engineer. 

I started my career as a Weapon System Officer (WSO) in the F-4, eventually going to pilot training and flying the F-15. Eventually, I went to the USAF Test Pilot School. I've flown 60+ different types of aircraft, varying from the PT-17 Steerman to F-18's. I even have time in the B-1 and C-141. By any measure, it's been a great run and I feel incredibly blessed.

Today, I fly highly modified T-38's and King Air's doing really cool stuff. For example, anyone know how to fly a Beech 1900--i.e. C-12J--from the continental US to Hawaii? It's not direct from the West Coast. I'll tell you that story later. Even though these aircraft are not as high performing, or even as sexy as others I've flown, it's a dream job.

The interesting thing is I don't think I could duplicate the path to get where I am just now if I started over. The circumstances of my career are just so surprising and variable that I wouldn't ever recommend making the same choices I made. Still, thinking back to what allowed me to move forward, I think it comes down to this observation: I was always prepared to take opportunities as they materialized. We'll get into this more down the road.

Dependent upon how Karlene wants to do this, I'll get to write more words on my experiences. There's the story about me almost passing out during simulator checkride because of self-induced stress, and how I flew my first solo ever in a twin engine jet trainer. (Most folks fly their first solo in a single engine prop plane.) There’s even my last flight in an F-15 happening to be the most photographed of my 3,000+ sorties. I have lots of stories, if you couldn't tell.

I look forward to writing for you all. If you have any comments, please write them here. It'll be fun.

Cheers Tom

Tom, Thank you for joining us today. There is one statement about your life that resonates with my life. Many would have thought I had written it...

"The circumstances of my career are just so surprising and variable that I wouldn't ever recommend making the same choices I made. Still, thinking back to what allowed me to move forward, I think it comes down to this observation: I was always prepared to take opportunities as they materialized."

 

I want hear all Tom's stories. How about you? 

I'm envisioning one day a week we could dedicate to Tom Hill stories. What do you think?

T.H.ursdays with Tom Hill

And if You have an Aviation Adventure...  
email it to me at Karlene.Petitt@Gmail.com  

Enjoy the Journey!
OXO Karlene