Hours turn to days

301st Operations Group Commander, Col. Kurt J. Gallegos taxies to the runway to begin the flight where he will achieve the milestone goal of flying more than 4000 hours in an F-16 Fighting Falcon Wednesday, Aug. 8, 2012. Reaching this point in his career, Gallegos joins a small group of pilots that currently hold this designation. On average, 4000 hours translates to 166 days in flight. His wingman for the occasion was none other than 10th Air Force Commander, Brig. Gen. William B. Binger. (U. S. Air Force photo/SrA Melissa Harvey)

Pilot reaches milestone goal

Hours turn to days

Brigadier General William B. Binger, 10th Air Force commander, taxies to the runway as he prepares to fly with Col. Kurt J. Gallegos, 301st Operations Group commander, as the latter reaches his milestone goal of flying 4000 hours in an F-16 Fighting Falcon, Wednesday, Aug. 8. Reaching this point in his career, Gallegos joins a small group of pilots that currently hold this designation. On average, 4000 hours translates to 166 days in flight. (U. S. Air Force photo/SrA Melissa Harvey)

Reserve pilot reaches 4,000 hour mark in F-16

Published Aug. 10, 2012
By SrA Melissa Harvey
301st Fighter Wing Public Affairs

NAVAL AIR STATION JOINT RESERVE BASE FORT WORTH, Texas -- An Air Force Reserve F-16 pilot here joined an elite group of aviators when he surpassed the 4,000 flying hour mark Aug. 8.

Col. Kurt "Huevos" Gallegos, 301st Operations Group commander hit the milestone in a 457th Fighter Squadron "Spad," tail number 85-1484, the plane that bears his name.

He joins a small group of pilots who achieved this goal.

"I am one of 36 pilots in the F-16 community world-wide who have reached this milestone," Gallegos said. "It's very hard to accomplish on active duty, most pilots who have this much flying time in a major weapon system (F-16, F-15, A-10, etc.) have transferred to the Guard and Reserve."

Wingmen are essential to flying, and on this important day his was Brig. Gen. William B. Binger, 10th Air Force commander. Binger hit the 4,000 hour goal while flying in Balad, Iraq in 2005 as the 332nd Air Expeditionary Flight Operations Groups commander.

"For the Reserve command, it's a testament to the amount of experience we have in the weapon systems that we fly," Binger said. "It takes an incredible amount of time and effort to build up that many hours when you think about flying the air plane at about an average of 1.3 to 1.5 hours per flight.

"It takes most people a 20-plus-year career to amass that many hours. We are very proud of him. It's just a testament to the amount of experience that we have in the Air Force Reserve Command."

Gallegos recognizes he hasn't arrived at this momentous occasion on his own. "Without aircrew flight equipment, all the maintainers, crew chiefs, avionics, back shops, including the wing leadership...I could not have done any of this," he said. Included in this group is Tech. Sgt. Todd McMillen, 301st Aircraft Maintenance Squadron F-16 dedicated crew chief, who prepared Gallegos' jet for the mission.

During his approximately 167 days in the air, he has seen and been a part of things only that kind of time can give.

"I had the opportunity to fly the five-millionth-flight hour for Lockheed Martin in the F-16 on Dec. 4, 1996 when I was the F-16 West Coast demonstration pilot at Hill Air Force Base, Utah," he said. "I was also the first pilot to drop bombs in Afghanistan after Sept. 11, 2001. I've been very lucky to be in the right place at the right time on many occasions."

Gallegos goal is to eventually become a wing commander and although 5,000 hours in the Fighting Falcon would be nice, he said at this stage of his career that would probably be unattainable.

"I'm still flying and that's the best thing, I love every minute of it, It never gets boring or mundane, I am excited every day I show up to work," he said.