Easty now CO of No. 100 Squadron RAAF and Mustang pilot

[Dave Homewood]

Congratulations to Jason "Easty" Easthope, former RNZAF pilot and now Commanding Officer of No. 100 Squadron RAAF. He has now flying the squadron's Mustang.

[Mustang51]

Hmmmmm. A Kiwi, former RNZAF pilot of great stature, current RAAF pilot of great stature, CO of RAAF 100 Sqn Historic Flight, Mustang endorsed.....seems also to tick all of the boxes for one day perhaps flying Brendon's Mustang methinks

[colford]

AND Temora Aviation Museum has posted up not long ago that "Easty" and AVM Mark Skidmore have both completed their ground and conversion training on the A-37 Dragonfly under the tutelege of F/L Darren "Buster" Crabb. So now 3 pilots currently qualified to fly TAM's Dragonfly. Busy boys.

[Dave Homewood]

I just saw that. Awesome stuff.

[planecrazy]

Be great if he got to fly the Spitfire XVI "FUP" the ex AFC Spitfire, nice connection from the past.

[colford]

Of course if TAM/100 RAAF got the issue with the Sabre sorted, we know who would probably be first in line for the piloting duties.

I suspect, that given his new role as OC 100 Squadron RAAF, "Easty" might be able to get type ratings on any of the aircraft in both museum's collections that he wants.

[ZacYates]

Excellent news, major congrats to Easty and to Mark! It’s been great to see such good news over the last few days.

[11SQNLDR]

A drop in rank back to Wingco but who wouldn't for such a fantastic posting

[falcon124]

Feb 9, 2023 19:01:56 GMT 12 11SQNLDR said:

A drop in rank back to Wingco but who wouldn't for such a fantastic posting

The RAAF have "Specialist Aircrew" postings where a person can drop out of the promotion cycle to remain flying. It's a way of keeping people who might otherwise leave to industry. I think that they can keep the pay rate of their higher rank when stepping back down, although I'm not 100% on that.

[Dave Homewood]

I think the RNZAF do the same. There have been a few instructors who stayed as Squadron Leaders for 20+ years and continued todo sterling work in that role rather than fly a desk or get out.

[falcon124]

Feb 9, 2023 9:02:21 GMT 12 planecrazy said:

Be great if he got to fly the Spitfire XVI "FUP" the ex AFC Spitfire, nice connection from the past.

If Easty's not already checked out on Spitfires, he would apparently become the *second* RAAF pilot trained to fly Spitfires since WW2. I was told by the former CO 100SQN that Ben Lappin, who flies as a reservist, has the distinction of being the first.

Ben also flies Graham Hosking's F4U-5N Corsair over here, among other things

[Dave Homewood]

Feb 11, 2023 11:10:32 GMT 12 falcon124 said:

The RAAF have "Specialist Aircrew" postings where a person can drop out of the promotion cycle to remain flying. It's a way of keeping people who might otherwise leave to industry. I think that they can keep the pay rate of their higher rank when stepping back down, although I'm not 100% on that.

Feb 11, 2023 14:35:31 GMT 12 Dave Homewood said:

I think the RNZAF do the same. There have been a few instructors who stayed as Squadron Leaders for 20+ years and continued to do sterling work in that role rather than fly a desk or get out.

I am now reliably informed by a friend who is currently serving in the RNZAF as a pilot that my assumption was not correct. He tells me:

"Hi Dave, the RNZAF have just recently introduced SPS "Specialist Pilot Scheme" where a few spots are opened up to those of us that just want to fly. Before that there was no scheme to stay flying; those that did so were fortunate, and had to live with the uncertainty of being eligible for a posting away from that location. SPS members however can be posted about, but not to a different location. SPS positions are also not executive roles (OC, CO, FLTCDR etc) so those that want to continue up the command chain can continue to do so without being blocked by an old and crusty SPS sitting in that position. That said SPS members can fill those roles if there is an immediate need. We're also capped at SQNLDR on the scheme"