By
SGT Mark Eaton
Volume
48, No. 7, May 04, 2006
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WGCDR
Steve Roberton.
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Photo
by LAC Mark McConnell
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WGCDR
Steve Roberton may not have collected thousands of frequent flyer
points, or travelled business class all the way, but he has recently
achieved a milestone the envy of many aircrew.
As Commanding Officer of 75SQN at RAAF Base Tindal, WGCDR Roberton
recently accumulated 2000 hours of flight time in F/A-18s.
This equates to a little more than 83 days or approximately 119,520
minutes continual time in the air – a remarkable achievement.
For WGCDR Roberton, 2000 hours also represents approximately 2200
take-offs and landings, about 150 air-to-air refuels and a few
carrier landings which he describes as “exciting, but not
fun”.
“My [flying] hours are quite modest compared to those reached
by transport pilots but it represents a reasonable amount of time
in a single-seat fighter,” WGCDR Roberton said.
WGCDR Roberton joined the Air Force in 1989 and began flying F/A-18s
in 1993. Since that time he has held various positions including
an exchange with the US Marine Corps from 1996 to1998; one of
the many highlights of his military career.
“The exchange was two years of fun for my wife and I. I got
to fly in a very different but also very professional organisation
and flew into 42 of the USA’s 50 states, Canada, Hawaii,
Europe and Puerto Rico.”
“The opportunity to have more fun at work than most”
is how WGCDR Roberton will remember his time at 75SQN before handing
over command later this year.
