Afghan National Army Air Corps Lt. Faiz Ramaki, the first Afghan officer to train in the United States in nearly 50 years, received his pilots wings upon completion of the Air Force’s aviation leadership program at Columbus AFB, Miss., June 12, 2009. Here, Col. Roger Watkins (l), commander of Columbus’ 14th Flying Training Wing, presents Ramaki with his wings during his graduation ceremony.

Air Force photo by Melissa Duncan

Worth the Wait: Afghan National Army Air Corps Lt. Faiz Mohammed Ramaki, the first Afghan officer to receive pilot training in the United States in nearly 50 years, received his pilot wings June 12 after completing the Air Force's aviation leadership program (ALP) at Columbus AFB, Miss. "Succeeding in the ALP is an accomplishment; but while this is a good day for me, it is a great day for my country," said Ramaki. His ALP training included English language instruction, 25 hours of flight screening in a civil aircraft, such as a Cessna 172, 335 hours of academic and ground lessons, and approximately 167 flight hours and simulator sorties. Col. Roger Watkins, commander of Columbus' 14th Flying Training Wing, who presented him with his silver wings, said, "You will go back to your country and share what you learned with other Air Corps pilots." Overall, 61 Afghan pilot candidates will spend up to 30 months training in the United States. And 30 experienced Afghan Army Air Corps pilots also train up to 10 months in the US. (Columbus report by Sonic Johnson)

That's cool. We had a quilt in our class.

I'll be here all week folks.

Your 4th post, and that's all you have? Weak.

Faiz! He's a damn good dude. I'm glad he made it through the program.

:beer:

He was a pleasure to have in class. It took a little while for him to get up to speed, but once he got through most of the cultural barrier, he was rocking it. He flew his final checkride last Friday and graduated the ALP program that same day. Truly great guy. He's on his way to Italy to fly the C-27. If Afghanistan buys T-6s, he'll probably be part of the initial cadre for that. My congratulations go out to him and his family. I'm very proud of him.

Edited June 18, 200916 yr by Ill Destructor

Good for him. What will he be flying when he returns to Afghanistan?

I read in another article that he will be flying the C-27.

I'm confused. Is Afghanistan planning on buying C-27's, or is he immigrating to Italy?

Good thing he's not at Vance

I'm confused. Is Afghanistan planning on buying C-27's, or is he immigrating to Italy?

This article says the Afghan military will get a fleet...I assume older since they are the A- models.

https://www.aetc.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123154059

Edited June 19, 200916 yr by DILLA

I'm confused. Is Afghanistan planning on buying C-27's, or is he immigrating to Italy?

Looks like they are buying/gifted them:

"Lieutenant Ramaki will continue flying training in his next aircraft, the Italian-built C-27A Spartan when the Afghanistan military receives the first of 20 aircraft late this summer."

Edited June 19, 200916 yr by stoleit2x

Looks like they are buying/gifted them:

"Lieutenant Ramaki will continue flying training in his next aircraft, the Italian-built C-27A Spartan when the Afghanistan military receives the first of 20 aircraft late this summer."

I saw one flying in Afghanistan yesterday. I was wondering why it was there, who was flying it. I know Europeans fly it, but I thought they all called it the G-222 or something similar. Wonder if it was the beginning of the Afghan AF.

Or, less interesting, maybe the US Army finally got some.

I saw one flying in Afghanistan yesterday. I was wondering why it was there, who was flying it. I know Europeans fly it, but I thought they all called it the G-222 or something similar. Wonder if it was the beginning of the Afghan AF.

Or, less interesting, maybe the US Army finally got some.

The Germans and the French (Turks maybe too) fly the C-160 Transall. It looks somewhat similar to the C-27 (i.e. a small, 2 engine Herk)