Pat beats 3000 hours

By LEUT Chris Cochrane

LCDR Pat Davitt, FLYCOHMAS Canberra.

LCDR Pat Davitt, Flight Comm­ander HMAS Canberra, surpassed 3000 hours flying in naval aircraft in June.

The milestone was reached during an Undersea Warfare sortie conducted in Tiger 78 as part of Canberra’s recent work-up.

The achievement is made even more distinctive by the fact he has achieved this milestone flying for two Navies.

LCDR Davitt originally joined the US Navy in 1987 and served until 1995. During his tenure he flew Seahawks and various training aircraft.

In February 1997 he joined the RAN and completed conversion to Australian Seahawks at 816 Squadron. Since then he has served in 816 Squadron, HMA Ships Sydney and Canberra and the ADF Helicopter School (formerly at RAAF Fairbairn).

While attached to 816 Squadron, LCDR Davitt passed another milestone exceeding 2000 flying hours in Seahawk helicopters.

HMAS Canberra is currently deployed to Christmas Island in support of Op Relex II.

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