Test Pilot School Graduates Latest Class
The US Naval Test Pilot School held its graduation ceremony for Class 157 earlier this month.
Thirty-four students completed the 11-month course of instruction for designation as engineering developmental test pilots, test flight officers, and test engineers.
RADM John 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 June 5 at the school’s hangar at Naval Air Station Patuxent River. RADM Lemmon, Class 107 graduate, is former chief test pilot and commanding officer of Air Test and Evaluation Squadron (VX) 20.
RADM 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 US 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 the Test Pilot School.
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 US 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 US Navy Capt. Sydney Sherby who established the test pilot training division in 1945, now the US 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, US Navy
- Capt. Bradley Russell Campbell, US Army
- Chief Warrant Officer 3 Michael T. Carroll, US Army
- Lt. Lance Gregory Eckenroth, US Navy
- Lt. Kyle B. Fishburn, US Navy
- Lt. Dustin Archer Flaum, US Navy
- Capt. Thomas Glade Fowler, US Army
- Maj. Tristan Ming Gerritsen, US Marine Corps
- Maj. Dale J. Hargis, US Air Force
- Capt. Giovanni Viggiano, Italian Air Force
- Lt. Sean Aaron Johnson, US Navy
- Maj. Michael Bruce Jones, US Marine Corps
- Capt. Jordan Gregory Kahrs, US Marine Corps
- Lt. Derek J. Lee, US Navy
- Lt. Kevin P. Lovell, US Navy
- Maj. Jason N. Noll, US Marine Corps
- Lt. Cmdr. Dal A. Nwokora, Royal Navy
- Lt. John Michel Paquette, US Navy
- Lt. William T. Peabody, US Navy
- Lt. Andrew W. Quiel, US Navy
- Lt. Erik David Storm, US Navy
- Lt. Andrew David Weatherholt, US Navy
Five students completed the engineering test flight officer course. They are:
- Lt. Daniel A. Guerra, US Navy
- Maj. Daniel Lawrence Jewett, US Marine Corps
- Lt. Brian Patrick Moore, US Navy
- Lt. Robert D. Rountree, US Navy
- Lt. Chase Evan Winsor, US Navy
Six students fulfilled the requirements for the test project engineer course. They are:
- Brian T. Fujizawa, Department of the Army
- Andrew William Gibson, Department of the Army
- 1st Lt. Lauri Lehtonen, Finnish Air Force
- Paul Sierpinski, NAWCAD
- 1st Lt. Giorgio Vastarella, Italian Air Force
- Anthony J. Vila, NAWCAD
This article was provided by NAVAIR News.
To learn more about Lexington Park, visit the St. Mary’s County Community Development Corporation’s Leader member page.
St. Mary’s County Community Development Corporation
46940 South Shangri-La Drive, Suite 7
Lexington Park, MD 20653
301-863-7700
