Lt. Col. Michael Brill, a pilot assigned to 421st Expeditionary Fighter Squadron, has been breaking world aviation records since 1993, when he became the world’s first pilot to fly 3,000 hours in the F-16. Recently he broke his own record when he surpassed the 6,000-hour milestone.
In August 1998, he became the first pilot to fly 4,000 hours and, in November 2002, he was the first pilot to attain 5,000 hours.
“The sustained effort required to spend 6,000 hours flying the F-16 is phenomenal,” said Brig. Gen. Burton M. Field, commander of 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing, of which the 421st EFS is a part. “Six thousand hours equates to 250 days in the cockpit — not counting all the time in ground ops before and after the flight. That is an incredible amount of time in a high-G [force], high-speed, high-stress arena.
“Flying fighters is mentally and physically challenging. The environment, threat, systems, weapons and the mission set are constantly changing and require a disciplined program of study and practice to remain on the cutting edge,” said the general, who graduated with the colonel in 1979 from the Air Force Academy. The two attended F-16 training together at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, in 1980.
Despite the challenges of flying the F-16 almost constantly since 1980, Brill said he wouldn’t have it any other way.
“I love to fly. I don’t remember ever wanting to do anything else. There is a communication between me and the machine. Flying an airplane is like being on a roller coaster that you can steer,” said the colonel, who grew up on various Marine Corps bases, but calls Virginia home.
Brill, who is deployed from Hill Air Force Base, likened the evolution of the missions F-16 pilots fly and the development of precision-guided weaponry to the strides that have been made with computer technology over recent decades.
“It’s been a constant challenge — nothing has stayed the same,” he said. “The development of the aircraft and missions requires constant emphasis and effort to go to the books. In aviation, the precision weapons that we use now compared to those in the past are more of a revolution rather than an evolution.”
Brill has personally experienced these changes while flying nearly 225 combat hours and more than 65 combat sorties. His combat experience includes three tours in support of Operation Northern Watch, two in support of Operation Southern Watch, two in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, and one in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.
In addition, he led the first F-16 strike into Afghanistan following Sept. 11, 2001, a 10-hour mission he described as an “eye-opening experience.”
The more recent combat missions he has flown since arriving in Iraq in March have been a lot “quieter,” because fewer munitions have needed to be dropped — an indication that the global war on terrorism is being won, the colonel said.
Many of the missions flown by pilots in Iraq are reconnaissance missions, in which information is gathered using high-tech cameras to identify potential ground threats.
“Our primary mission [as flyers providing close-air support for ground units] is to make noise,” he explained. “We are up there to let the bad guys know what we’re capable of and to keep them hunkered down. This allows the [ground personnel] to work to establish good relationships with the people who are helping us. The impact of the air power is knowing that the airplane overhead gives people on the ground an umbrella of safety that is basically irreplaceable.”
