COLD LAKE WHERE FIGHTER PILOTS ARE MADE

419 Tactical Fighter Training Squadron

The NATO Flying Training in Canada programme was launched in 2000 and 419 Ta ctical Fighter Training Squadron became responsible for Phase IV training – the last step before the cockpit of a frontline f ighter. Dirk Jan de Ridder investigates.

The area north of Cold Lake is very scarcely populated, making it ideal for all types of air-to-air and air-to-ground training. All the squadron’s sorties are flown with an Air Combat Manoeuvering Instrumentation (ACMI) pod on the left wing-tip station, a centreline fuel tank and an inert Sidewinder missile on the right wing-tip.
All photos Dirk Jan de Ridder

The sun rises over Canadian Forces Base Cold Lake, Alberta, as a group of young Canadian, Hungarian and Singaporean pilots walk out to their CT-155 Hawk jets. With several years of pilot training behind them and already cleared solo on the Hawk, this is a new chapter in their careers. Here at Cold Lake they will be taught to wear the aircraft like a suit, manoeuvre it to the limit in combat and kill bandits while staying alive themselves. After years spent in a relatively benign training environment, this is the first time they are part of a squadron. The pressure is on to demonstrate they are not just pilots, but fighter pilots.

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