{"id":1549,"date":"2018-09-08T20:57:37","date_gmt":"2018-09-08T17:57:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/?p=1549"},"modified":"2018-09-08T20:57:37","modified_gmt":"2018-09-08T17:57:37","slug":"meet-u-s-air-force-reserves-first-female-f-35-pilot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/?p=1549","title":{"rendered":"Meet U.S. Air Force Reserve\u2019s first female F-35 pilot"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"USAF<\/a>

Col. Gina “Torch” Sabric, commander of the 419th Fighter Wing at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, and the Air Force Reserve’s first female F-35 pilot. (Photo by U.S. Air Force photo\/Todd Cromar)<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Before she climbed into the world\u2019s most advanced fighter jet to become the Air Force Reserve\u2019s first female F-35 pilot, Col. Gina \u201cTorch\u201d Sabric had already flown 10 airframes and racked up 22 years of flying experience.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cMy family can tell you I\u2019ve wanted to be a fighter pilot forever,\u201d said Sabric, the first female commander of the 419th Fighter Wing at Hill Air Force Base, Utah. \u201cI\u2019ve always been fascinated with air and space.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Service is in her DNA. Growing up in Tobyhanna, Pennsylvania, her mother was a nurse and her father a police officer, and she had several uncles who served in the Air Force. But it was a trip to a local airshow, that turned her aviation dream into a tangible goal.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy dad was a private pilot, so he took me to an airshow when I was a little girl, and I remember looking up at those airplanes and being amazed,\u201d Sabric said. \u201cEver since then, I knew I was going to be a pilot.\u201d
\n<\/em>
\n
\nTwice in her teens she went to U.S. Space Camp in Huntsville, Ala. A few years later, she had followed in her dad\u2019s footsteps, earning a private pilot\u2019s license while studying aerospace engineering at Penn State. By 1995, Sabric was ready to join the Air Force and had no doubts she\u2019d be wearing a flight suit.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you really want something, you work your hardest to get it.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Sabric proved herself as the top graduate from navigator training, launching her career first as an F-15E Strike Eagle weapons system officer and later as a distinguished graduate from pilot training into the F-16 Fighting Falcon. Add to that the MQ-9 Reaper, a remotely piloted aircraft, and the T-38 Talon, which she flew as \u201cred air,\u201d or simulated enemy against F-22 Raptors. Most recently, she flew special operations missions in the C-146A Wolfhound out of Duke Field, Florida.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t have the typical flying career,\u201d Sabric said of the multiple airframes she\u2019s flown. \u201cI\u2019ve had the opportunity to bounce around with different aircraft and mission sets. I think it\u2019s made me a better pilot because I\u2019ve had the opportunity to experience so much outside the fighter world.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Her career is different in other ways, too. Sabric said she\u2019s grown accustomed to answering questions about being a woman in the fighter world \u2013 one that, until 1993 when Jeannie Leavitt became the Air Force\u2019s first female fighter pilot, was dominated by men.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the nineties, women were just getting into fighters,\u201d Sabric said. \u201cBack then, you were either the only girl in pilot training, or just one of two. But once you prove yourself in the cockpit, gender doesn\u2019t matter anymore. A fighter pilot is a fighter pilot and everyone has to do the same job.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Sabric said a lot has changed in the past 20 years. She doesn\u2019t feel like \u201cthe token girl\u201d in the squadron. She has more than 2,500 flying hours, including time in combat, and has deployed numerous times in support of Operations Allied Force, Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom, and Noble Eagle.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s great to know that today there are little girls, like me, who look up and see fighter jets and say, \u2018I can do that.\u2019\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Sabric said she loves talking to school groups and touting some of the ways both men and women can serve in the Air Force Reserve.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cWhen you take off the helmet and the long hair comes out, that\u2019s a good thing for girls to see,\u201d Sabric said. \u201cI remember when I was a lieutenant, we brought a group of Girl Scouts to the F-15E simulator. That was really eye-opening to me because it was a moment when I realized how far we\u2019ve come. We were able to show these girls what opportunities were open to them that weren\u2019t just a few years earlier.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Still, there\u2019s only a small number of women fighter pilots in the Air Force, and only three others \u2013 all active duty \u2013 in the F-35 community.<\/p>\n

Sabric said the birth of her son, Tyler, in 2011 was the deciding factor in leaving active duty for the Air Force Reserve, as it offered more flexibility in how and where she served.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Reserve provides an opportunity to serve either part time or full time when it works for you and your family,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s unique because everyone is here by choice. About two-thirds of our Airmen serve part time, and they do a phenomenal job of balancing work \u2013 both military and civilian \u2013 and family, because they want to serve in some capacity.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Earlier this year, the Reserve brought Sabric, a single mom, to Hill AFB in Northern Utah, where less than three years earlier the 419th FW and its active duty counterpart, the 388th FW, received the Air Force\u2019s first operational F-35A Lightning II. Since then, the two wings have flown the F-35 in a \u201cTotal Force\u201d partnership, launching more than 9,000 sorties and logging nearly 15,000 hours in the jet.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was told I got this job, a huge smile came across my face and I thought, \u2018Wow, I just got the golden ticket,\u2019\u201d Sabric said. \u201cIt\u2019s an amazing opportunity to be a fighter pilot and fly the latest fifth-generation aircraft at an operational wing. It doesn\u2019t get any better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sabric became fully qualified in the F-35 in August, having finished two months of training at Eglin AFB, Fla., and additional flying hours at Hill.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m still new in the airplane,\u201d Sabric said. \u201cEvery sortie you learn something new, so as I continue to fly I\u2019ll continue to learn. What the F-35 brings to the fight now, it\u2019s lightyears beyond fourth-gen aircraft.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Aside from the stealth technology that keeps the F-35 virtually invisible to radar, Sabric said the most impressive aspect of the jet is its \u201csensor fusion\u201d \u2013 the vast wealth of information it collects and sends that can be shared with other aircraft, giving pilots a bigger picture of the battlespace.<\/p>\n

\u201cLearning the F-35 is a challenge, and it\u2019s a lot of new information to process and interpret,\u201d Sabric said. But her diverse flying experience prepared her to make yet another switch. \u201cLuckily, it\u2019s still stick and rudder, and flying is flying.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Sabric looks forward to helping the F-35 reach full operational capability at Hill. By 2019, the base will be home to 78 jets and four fighter squadrons capable of worldwide deployment. It\u2019s a responsibility and privilege she couldn\u2019t have imagined as a girl growing up in Tobyhanna.<\/p>\n

\u201cSitting in this seat for the 419th, surrounded by these beautiful mountains, flying the premier fighter of the Air Force \u2013 I could not be happier to be where I am right now.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Source:<\/strong> U.S. Air Force Reserve Command News<\/a> – By Bryan Maga\u00f1a, 419th F<\/em>ighter Wing Public Affairs \/ Published September 06, 2018<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Photos<\/strong>:\u00a0Col. Gina “Torch” Sabric, commander of the 419th Fighter Wing at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, and the Air Force Reserve’s first female F-35 pilot. (Photo by U.S. Air Force photo\/Todd Cromar)<\/em><\/p>\n

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Before she climbed into the world\u2019s most advanced fighter jet to become the Air Force Reserve\u2019s first female F-35 pilot, Col. Gina \u201cTorch\u201d Sabric had already flown 10 airframes and racked up 22 years...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1550,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,1675,36,1725,7,28,177,30],"tags":[1800,1808,1803,353,323,303,313,1797,1796,1806,1804,1798,1805,1802,1801,84,1795,1807,1799],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1549"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1549"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1549\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1551,"href":"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1549\/revisions\/1551"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xairforces.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}