Nathan’s got The R
Royal Navy test pilot follows in footsteps o
HE completed a supersonic flight over the Mojave Desert in California, where Chuck Yeager became the first pilot to fly faster than the speed of sound in level flight.
l Lt Cdr Gray also flew the T-38 Talon
He has flown the Soviet MiG15 fighter, the aircraft that took the life of the first man in space, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. He has flown the jet fighters the F-15 Strike Eagle, the F-16 Fighting Falcon and the F-18 Super Hornet. He spent ten years as a frontline Harrier pilot, completing numerous tours and earning a Mention in Despatches for bravery during combat operations in 2008. Now Lt Cdr Nathan Gray has the accolade of being named Outstanding Graduate at the highly prestigious United States Navy Test Pilot School. If he were an American citizen he would be looking forward to applying for the NASA programme and a new career as an astronaut. But the Royal Navy pilot is now helping to deliver the F-35B Lightning II jet fighter to the Fleet Air Arm and the nation’s two new aircraft carriers. “Combining one of the world’s most advanced fifth generation aircraft with the world’s only purpose-built fifth generation carriers is a thoroughly exciting prospect,” he said. For the next three years the Royal Navy’s F-35 Developmental Test Pilot will be embedded with the Joint Strike Fighter Integrated Test Force
at the US Navy’s air test and evaluation squadron VX-23 at Patuxent River in Maryland. It’s been quite a journey for Lt Cdr Gray, who joined the Royal Navy in 1998 after graduating from Manchester University with an honours degree in Aerospace Engineering. In 2008 the then lieutenant was Mentioned in Dispatches for “superior skill and ice-calm leadership under the most testing of airborne conditions” while on combat operations. Following the retirement of the Harrier, Lt Cdr Gray continued flying as an exchange officer on the Harrier AV-8B within the United States Marine Corps, where he was awarded the United States Meritorious Service Medal. He dedicated his final Harrier flight, in August 2010 at MCAS Cherry Point in North Carolina, to his former instructor Lt Cdr Jak London, the Navy’s most distinguished Sea Harrier pilot. In 2002 the pair were in a two-seater Harrier T8 when it suffered a catastrophic malfunction. Both men ejected but tragically Lt Cdr London suffered fatal injuries. As a Qualified Flying Instructor on both the Harrier and Tucano, Lt Cdr Gray was able to reinvest both his knowledge and experience back into Royal Navy, Royal Air Force, and USMC fast jet aviation. Career-broadening ground appointments provided a unique opportunity to qualify and undertake duties as a Commando, Paratrooper and
Forward Air Controller. The 39-year-old completed an appointment as the RN Fixed Wing Deputy Force Commander at RNAS Culdrose in Cornwall prior to commencing test pilot training with the United States Navy in 2014. Applying to become a UK military test pilot begins with a Command-endorsed application to the Empire Test Pilots’ School (ETPS) in Wiltshire. Potential students are then invited to ETPS at MOD Boscombe Down for a twoday interview process, which includes an examination in mathematics and calculus, a technical interview board, and a professional interview with senior members of the testing community. Successful applicants are then allocated a place on the ETPS Te s t Pilot course
which convenes every 12 months. Occasionally there is an opportunity to recommend students for Test Pilot training overseas at one of three sister military Test Pilot Schools (TPS) under a reciprocal exchange program: EPNER in France or US Air Force and Navy in the United States. The latter is located at NAS Patuxent River, better known as Pax River, the home of US Naval Aviation Developmental Testing. Of the highly-motivated graduates to successfully complete USNTPS, many have gone on to join the NASA Astronaut Corps. Lt Cdr Gray was selected for Test Pilot (TP) training at USNTPS where he flew 21 different aircraft types over a 15-month period, learning the unique Developmental Test (DT) skills required of a test pilot to meticulously plan, brief, execute, and report on core
l Lt Cdr Gray is part of the team delivering the F-35B Lightning II stealth fighter to the Fleet Air Arm and RAF
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: APRIL 2016
04/03/2016 14:27
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