Thunderbirds Member Killed in Crash Former F-35 Test Pilot

Military aircraft accidents/mishaps.
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by spazsinbad » 05 Apr 2018, 23:13

Thunderbirds Member Killed in Nevada Crash Was Former F-35 Test Pilot [STATISTICS at JUMP]
05 Apr 2018 Oriana Pawlyk

"The U.S. Air Force has identified the Thunderbirds pilot killed Wednesday after his F-16 Fighting Falcon crashed near Nellis Air Force Base. Maj. Stephen Del Bagno was participating in a routine training flight at the Nevada Test and Training Range when the crash occurred at approximately 10:30 a.m. local time, the Thunderbirds said in a release. The accident is under investigation....

...Del Bagno was the slot pilot flying the No. 4 jet for the Thunderbirds, according to the team's website. He was in his first season with the demonstration team....

...Before joining the team, Del Bagno was an F-35A Joint Strike Fighter evaluator pilot and chief of standardization and evaluation with the 58th Fighter Squadron at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. The Valencia, California, native had more than 3,500 flying hours in over 30 different aircraft, with 1,400 hours as an Air Force pilot, his official biography said...."

Source: https://www.military.com/daily-news/201 ... pilot.html


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by Roscoe » 08 Apr 2018, 06:48

An Evaluator pilot is NOT a test pilot. His job is to evaluate other pilots, not the airplane.
Roscoe
F-16 Program Manager
USAF Test Pilot School 92A

"It's time to get medieval, I'm goin' in for guns" - Dos Gringos


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by Gamera » 26 Feb 2019, 12:03

www.floridatoday.com/story/news/2019/02 ... 939949002/

Late Thunderbird who flew during Melbourne air show honored with Florida Tech scholarship

2019/02/21

Ten days after Maj. Stephen Del Bagno performed as U.S. Air Force Thunderbird #4 during last year's Melbourne Air & Space Show, he lost his life in a flight training crash in Nevada.

To memorialize him, the National Air, Sea & Space Foundation and Florida Institute of Technology have launched the $25,000 Stephen “Cajun” Del Bagno Memorial Scholarship fund.



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