User:Skeet Shooter/sandbox/metz

Alfred P. Metz (born 19xx) is a retired United States Air Force officer, combat veteran, and test pilot.

Early life and education
Metz was born in ...
 * born in Springfield, Ohio.

Military career

 * (1968) Metz entered the U.S. Air Force in 1968.
 * (1968-1972) flew operational missions in the F-105G Wild Weasel in the U.S. and Southeast Asia.
 * (1968-1072) Metz started his career as an F-105G Wild Weasel pilot in Vietnam.
 * (1972) flew 68 missions over North Vietnam and took part in the pivotal “12 Days of Christmas” raids in December 1972.
 * (1972) His combat day and night missions against surface-to-air missiles and anti-aircraft gun sites in support of strike missions in North Vietnam earned him two Distinguished Flying Crosses and six Air Medals.
 * (1976) In 1976 he was a distinguished graduated from the USAF Test Pilot School at Edwards AFB, Calif.
 * (1976-1978) he remained at Edwards AFB until 1978.
 * (1978) he became an instructor pilot at the U.S. Navy Test Pilot School at Patuxent River, Md.

Northrop

 * (1980) Two years later, he joined Northrop Aircraft as an Engineering Test Pilot conducting flight tests on the F-5E/F, the F-20 and the Antonov Colt (a Russian bi-plane).
 * (1985) In October 1985, he was appointed Chief Test Pilot for Northrop Aircraft and was responsible for flight tests of the F-20 Tigershark, the RF-5E Tiger Eye Reconnaissance Aircraft, the F-86F Saber and other programs.
 * (???) He and his staff of test pilots worked closely with the engineers in the detailed design of the YF-23, the Northrop-McDonnell Douglas entrant in the ATF prototype program.
 * (1990) He made the first flight of the YF-23A ATF in August 1990.
 * (1990) flew Northrop's YF-23 on its first flight during the Advanced Tactical Fighter (ATF) competition.
 * (???) He also spent two years as an engineering test pilot on the B-2 bomber program.

Lockheed

 * (1992-2001) From 1992-2001, he served as Lockheed Martin’s Chief Test Pilot for the F-22 ATF, and made the first flight on the F-22A Raptor on Sept. 7, 1997.
 * (Sept 7, 1997) First flight of the first flight of the first F-22 aircraft took place Sept. 7, 1997. The fighter took off from Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Marietta, Georgia, with F-22 chief test pilot Paul Metz at the controls.
 * (Sept 7, 1997) The only man who flew both the F-22 and the YF-23.
 * (September 1998) Interview with Carlo Kopp.
 * these four technologies (stealth, supercruise, super-maneuverability and sensor fusion) meant that a new generation of fighter aircraft was practical, which could leap frog us over our future adversaries.
 * ... De-coupling ... the pilot from the role of sensor operator and data analyst is the most profound change in cockpit design since the advent of fighters.
 * Until the advent of stealth, there was no way for a force to survive at medium to high altitudes, so our fighter and fighter bomber effectiveness has been sorely reduced by low altitude tactics. The Raptor will be the fighter that regains the high ground.
 * (???) He and a staff of test pilots worked closely with the engineers on subsystem design, flying qualities, simulation, avionics, cockpit layout and man-machine interface.
 * He served on Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program and was named the Vice President for Integrated Test and Evaluation, overseeing a 1600-person, $750 million dollar flight test organization for the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps and seven other countries until his retirement in February 2006.

Rocketplane Global

 * (2008-2010) From 2008-2010, he served as Vice President and Chief Test Pilot of Rocketplane Global, Inc., a privately held company building suborbital vehicles for space tourism.

Consultant

 * (2015) Today, he continues to work as a consultant on various aviation projects, and writes and speaks about flight test of modern fighter aircraft.
 * (Oct 19, 2017) The F-22 Combined Test Force held a ceremony Oct. 19 to commemorate the first flight of the F-22 Raptor.
 * (Oct 3, 2017) The Flight Test Historical Foundation will be hosting a Gathering of Eagles event to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the F-22 Raptor’s first flight. The event will take place Oct. 21 at the H.W. Hunter Pavilion at Antelope Valley Fairgrounds in Lancaster, California.
 * (Oct 3, 2017) The panelists include Paul Metz, Chuck Killberg, Bret Luedke, Randy Neville and James “JB” Brown, who were chief test pilots on the F-22 during the early stages of flight test for the fifth-generation fighter. Additional panelist, Steve Rainey, is a current chief test pilot with the F-22 Raptor program at the 411th Flight Test Squadron at Edwards.

Lectures

 * (Nov 17, 2010) Mr. Paul Metz will present "From Weasels to Raptors: A Test Pilot's Story" at 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 17, 2010. A Wings & Things Guest Lecture. NMUSAF photo only
 * (Nov 17, 2010) Transcript of "From Weasels to Raptors: A Test Pilot's Story".


 * (Dec 1, 2015) Metz's talk (at NASM on 12/1/15) will trace the military, geo-political and technical forces that drove the more than 30-year search for an Advanced Tactical Fighter (ATF). He'll also cover the development and design challenges of building the operational version of the Raptor, including the first test flights of the aircraft with a particular emphasis on the third Raptor, which is now on display in the museum’s second building.


 * (???) The lecture was put on at the Western Museum Of Flight—where one of the YF-23 is on display—to a seniors group.
 * Metz makes another incredibly valuable point about how Lockheed knew how to present and market their airframe far better than Northrop did.
 * He notes that not everyone who would be in a position to select a fighter aircraft would be an engineer and that they may not even be technically astute.
 * So leaving 'lasting impressions' on a conceptual level, even if they don't tell the whole story technically, can give one side an advantage over the other.
 * Lockheed infused far more marketing, salesmanship, and pizazz.

Photos

 * Raptor 4001 completes its 300th flight hour here with Lockheed Martin test pilot Paul Metz at the controls

Awards and decorations

 * Metz has accumulated over 7,000 flying hours and more than 37 years of experience flying 70 types of aircraft.
 * He is a Fellow and past president of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots.
 * a recipient of the Kincheloe Award (the test pilot profession’s highest award) for his flight testing of the YF-23 ATF prototype.
 * enshrined in the Aerospace Walk of Honor at Lancaster, Calif.
 * and has been inducted into the U.S. Air Force Gathering of Eagles.

Metz was awarded the following decorations for his military service.

Effective dates of promotion
Metz USAF promotion dates are shown in the following table.