USNTPS Requires An Intense 11-Month Course Of Instruction

One of the most respected test pilot education programs in the world, the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School (USNTPS), held a graduation ceremony for Class 157 at USNTPS’ hangar June 5, 2020. Thirty-four students successfully completed an intense 11-month course of instruction for designation as Engineering Developmental Test Pilots, Test Flight Officers, and Test Engineers.

Rear Adm. John S. Lemmon, Commander of Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division and Assistant Commander for Research and Engineering at Naval Air Systems Command, delivered the keynote address. The Class 107 graduate is former Chief Test Pilot and Commanding Officer of Air Test and Evaluation Squadron (VX) 20.

Lemmon, Col. Richard Marigliano, Commander of Naval Test Wing Atlantic, and Lt. Col. Rory Feely, Commanding Officer of USNTPS, presented diplomas and offered congratulations to the new “Testers.” Graduates included members of the U.S. Army, Marine Corps, Navy, and Air Force; students from Australia, Finland, Italy, and the United Kingdom; and civil service engineers from the Departments of the Army and Navy.

Lt. Cmdr. Dal Nwokora of the Royal Navy received the Outstanding Developmental Phase II Award, which recognizes the student who produced the best final report. The award is symbolic of the longstanding and mutually supportive relationship between the Empire Test Pilots’ School in the United Kingdom and USNTPS.

Marine Corps Maj. Daniel Jewett received the Commander Willie McCool Outstanding Student Award, which recognizes the top performing student in the categories of academics, flight performance, and technical report writing. The namesake award commemorates U.S. Navy Commander William C. McCool, a USNTPS alumnus tragically lost in the space shuttle Columbia accident.

Marine Corps Maj. Tristan Gerritsen received the Syd Sherby Leadership Award. Recognizing the student who displays exemplary leadership, the award is named after U.S. Navy Capt. Sydney Sherby who established the test pilot training division in 1945, now the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School. Twenty-three students completed the requirements for the engineering test pilot course.

The new test pilots are:

• Lt. Neil Amey, Royal Australian Navy
• Lt. William Harris Bishop, U.S. Navy
• Capt. Bradley Russell Campbell, U.S. Army
• Chief Warrant Officer 3 Michael T. Carroll, U.S. Army
• Lt. Lance Gregory Eckenroth, U.S. Navy
• Lt. Kyle B. Fishburn, U.S. Navy
• Lt. Dustin Archer Flaum, U.S. Navy
• Capt. Thomas Glade Fowler, U.S. Army
• Maj. Tristan Ming Gerritsen, U.S. Marine Corps
• Maj. Dale J. Hargis, U.S. Air Force
• Capt. Giovanni Viggiano, Italian Air Force
• Lt. Sean Aaron Johnson, U.S. Navy
• Maj. Michael Bruce Jones, U.S. Marine Corps
• Capt. Jordan Gregory Kahrs, U.S. Marine Corps
• Lt. Derek J. Lee, U.S. Navy
• Lt. Kevin P. Lovell, U.S. Navy
• Maj. Jason N. Noll, U.S. Marine Corps
• Lt. Cmdr. Dal A. Nwokora, Royal Navy
• Lt. John Michel Paquette, U.S. Navy
• Lt. William T. Peabody, U.S. Navy
• Lt. Andrew W. Quiel, U.S. Navy
• Lt. Erik David Storm, U.S. Navy
• Lt. Andrew David Weatherholt, U.S. Navy

Five students completed the engineering test flight officer course. They are:

• Lt. Daniel A. Guerra, U.S. Navy
• Maj. Daniel Lawrence Jewett, U.S. Marine Corps
• Lt. Brian Patrick Moore, U.S. Navy
• Lt. Robert D. Rountree, U.S. Navy
• Lt. Chase Evan Winsor, U.S. Navy

Six students fulfilled the requirements for the test project engineer course. They are:

• Mr. Brian T. Fujizawa, Department of the Army
• Mr. Andrew William Gibson, Department of the Army
• 1st Lt. Lauri Lehtonen, Finnish Air Force
• Mr. Paul Sierpinski, NAWCAD
• 1st Lt. Giorgio Vastarella, Italian Air Force
• Mr. Anthony J. Vila, NAWCAD

FMI: https://www.navair.navy.mil/