At just 32 years of age, Rodrigo Pérez Bilbao from Ibiza is an instructor in a NATO fighter pilot training programme, a “school for leaders”, in which NATO specialists are instructed at Sheppard Air Force Base (Texas, USA), according to Vozpopuli.com.
Rodrigo Pérez Bilbao is a captain in the Air Force and was already interviewed by Diario de Ibiza in 2019. His military career has missions in Senegal, Estonia, Lithuania and Romania, with participation in more than ten national and international exercises, as well as more than 1,400 flight hours in F-18s and a total of 1,800 flight hours that have taken him to the base in Texas.
“Since summer 2023 I am assigned as an instructor in the 88 Fighter Training Squadron of the NATO fighter pilot training program (Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training) at Sheppard Air Base,” the Air Force captain points out to Vozpopuli.com.
Requirements to become an instructor
To become an instructor in this program it is necessary to have a professional level of English, a great experience in fighter aircraft and to pass a very demanding course that lasts between four and seven months.
The program, in which 14 NATO countries are participating, aims to strengthen ties between the countries members, train fighter pilots.
The course consists of three modules and the one taught by the Ibizan is ‘Introduction to Fighter Fundamentals’, called IFF for its acronym in English.
the IFF module is only attended by students who have already been selected to fly fighter planes,” explains the Ibizan captain. During the three months of the course, the students receive an introduction to tactical flight [o de combate]they are mainly instructed in basic aerial combat, advanced ACM aerial combat and unguided weapons bombing”.
independence day
Rodrigo Pérez Bilbao had always dreamed of becoming a fighter pilot, ever since he was seven or eight years old. To get there, you have to become an officer in the Air Force. His father, a military man, advised him on the matter.
The movie ‘Top gun’ was not the inspiration of the Ibizan in his career, however, ‘Independence Day’, by Will Smith, was, as the captain explained to Diario de Ibiza in 2019, since in the film he flies an F-18 [el mismo avión que él]. “When I saw that, I, like most children, wanted to fly a plane like that and I never abandoned that idea,” assured Rodrigo Perez Bilbao.
For the full article, please visit Diario de Ibiza website here.