More than 100 US active and reserve airmen are in Inquique, Chile, working with Chilean airmen in the first exercise employing Chile’s new F-16s, reports Capt. Sarah Schwennesen. Chile also flies F-5s so aspects of Exercise WILLKA will feature dissimilar air training. From the US came F-16s from Air Force Reserve Command’s 301st Fighter Wing at NAS JRB Fort Worth, and KC-135s from the Arizona Air National Guard’s 161st Air Refueling Wing at Phoenix.
An Air Force F-16 pilot designed a collapsible ladder that weighs just six pounds and folds into the unused cockpit map case.