Hello. My online screen name is PacerLJ35. That name comes from my military tactical callsign, which is Pacer 50 (each C-21 instructor in the 54th had a callsign from Pacer 50 to Pacer 59...the other "Pacer" callsigns were allocated to the other various 457th Airlift Squadron GSUs). The LJ35 is the FAA designation for the Learjet 35A, which is what I flew during my previous assignment. The military calls the Learjet 35A the C-21A. I currently fly C-130H Hercules out of Dyess AFB, Texas.
My real name is Chris Dickens. I currently live in Abilene, Texas, but my hometown is St. Louis, Missouri. I grew up a military brat- my father was an Army aviator who flew AH-1 Cobra and OH-58 Kiowa helicopters. I've lived just about everywhere. Indiana, Japan, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, Illinois, Missouri, North Carolina, Texas, and Germany. I've been to most of the states in the USA. If you haven't travelled much, I have to say that we have a great and beautiful country! Go see some of it!
Education-wise, I have a bachelor's of science in geology, with an emphasis on environmental geology. What that means is I took a number of courses that specialized in environmental science, environmental law, hazardous waste management, and other related specialities on top of the core geology courses. I've always liked being outdoors, and with the exception of flying, there's nothing like being on the side of a mountain with some mapping gear, hand lens, and a rock hammer. It's alot of hard work...not just mental, but physically too! But I really enjoyed doing it.
Also while in school, I was enlisted as an engineer with the Louisiana Army National Guard. I served with Company A, 205th Engineer Battalion for 4 years. My primary specialty was operating equipment like scoop loaders, earth scrapers, road graders, dump trucks, and other stuff. It was fun, looking back on it. Following my graduation from college in February 1996, I was offered a slot to attend Warrant Officer Candidate School and Army Initial Entry Rotary Wing flight school. I reported to Ft. Rucker Alabama in April of 1996, and graduated as a Warrant Officer 1 in June.
I started flight school immediately. By July, I was flying the small TH-67A Creek, which is a derivative of the Bell 206B JetRanger. It was particularly hard learning to fly in a helicopter. I had to work really hard, but eventually I made it through Primary and Instruments, and then started flying the UH-1H Huey for the last portion of flight school: Combat Skills. The Huey was a bit easier to fly than the TH-67, but I had to fly it in much more demanding conditions: low-level, formations, tight landing zones, and eventually doing all that wearing Night Vision Goggles. Following the NVG phase and a short Officer Basic Course, I graduated with honors in April of 1997.
At the time, I was slated to fly for B Company, 1st Battalion, 244th Aviation Regiment (1-244 AVN), and I was supposed to go back to Ft. Rucker shortly and attend the UH-60A Black Hawk Aircraft Qualification Course (AQC). Unfortunately, after a year had passed, the Louisiana Guard announced that they didn't have the budget to send myself and a few other people still waiting to go. So I was transferred to the 812th Medical Company (Air Ambulance). It was one of the best moves of my life. I flew a little more, but I got to train to be a medevac pilot, which was very rewarding knowing that your primary job is saving lives. And even though I wasn't flying the sleek fast UH-60, I was flying a piece of history, and an aircraft that my father and grandfather had flown.
Meanwhile, while I was flying for the Guard, I worked in the petroleum industry as a geologist for a laboratory in Lafayette, Louisiana. It wasn't really what I wanted to do, and I felt out of place in the oil industry. Coupled with the fact that flying hours were hard to come by in the cash-strapped Army National Guard, I decided to start looking for new avenues for a career in flying.
I started out by first trying to get into the Coast Guard via the Direct Commission Aviator program, but decided not to apply after I found out that I wouldn't be competitive (I had about 300 hours and the typical applicant had around 1,000 hours). I then tried to fly HH-60 Pave Hawks for an Air Force Reserve rescue wing. I sent in my application, but while waiting to hear back, I found out that the active Air Force was looking for Army helicopter pilots to cross over and fly for them. I applied for that, but just as my package was being sent in, they stopped taking applications. Not to fear, as I was offered the opportunity to apply for Undergraduate Pilot Training (UPT) in the Air Force. I applied for that and was accepted.
I reported for Officer Training School at Maxwell AFB in November of 1999. Since I was a Warrant Officer, I had to complete a commissioning program. I was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in March of 2000. I then went to Laughlin AFB in Del Rio, Texas for UPT. There, I flew the little twin-jet trainer, the T-37B, and also flew the T-1A, which is a modified Raytheon Beechjet 400A business jet. I had fun flying both airplanes. The T-37 was very aerobatic, but had a terrible air conditioner which made summers in the Texas heat miserable. The T-1 was a great cross-country airplane....we regularly climbed to 23,000 feet, flew to distant cities to practice our approaches, and flew back. The little T-37 could barely make it to 25,000 feet! On a few occasions, we took the T-1 on long flights to Colorado, Florida and other destinations often cruising in the high 30,000s.
Near the end of pilot training, we put down our assignment preferences. I wanted to fly the C-21 because you upgrade to Aircraft Commander very quickly, whereas new heavy jet co-pilots can take up to 3 years to upgrade. I was delighted to find out that I got an assignment to Maxwell AFB to fly the Learjet, with a tactical airlift follow-on. I had the pleasure of flying the C-21 throughout the US and the world, and being deployed to support our military in the middle east following the 9/11 attacks. I finished my tour as a C-21A Instructor Pilot in August of 2004, having logged combat hours in the Learjet flying into Iraq as well as closing the 54th Airlift Flight for good. The 54th was re-established at Wright-Patterson AFB as the 54th Airlift Squadron.
Currently, I am a C-130 pilot in the process of gaining experience to upgrade to Aircraft Commander (equivelent to airline captain). I will likely upgrade in the next several months. I am also a trained aircraft mishap investigator, and I've been the investigating officer on one incident so far. I have yet to be assigned a staff position with my new squadron, the 39th Airlift Squadron, but my past experience has been serving as a safety officer, chief of scheduling, chief of training, tactics officer and publications officer.
Following my tour at Dyess, I hope to move on to Special Operations, flying the MC-130P or the HC-130P at either RAF Mildenhall, Davis-Monthan AFB or Hurlburt Field. I'll also be happy to fly MC-130H Talon II or AC-130 gunship aircraft.
Below are some random facts about me, just in case you cared.
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