Lonewolf_50
"JSF fan, I am reasonably familiar with how the US Navy and US Air Force fill the billets in Fleet Introduction squadrons.
You first take pilots who fly something else, run them through a conversion course (which typically involves a lot of OEM experts, folks from the Test Center, folks who were involved in RDT & E, and so on) and from that create a training cadre for your first classes to go through and begin to populate / man / standup your line squadrons.
With most new aircraft, the FIT team itself (and what the USAF call it, I forget their term) is still in a learning mode after a number of classes have gone through.
I may just be a nitpicking old fart, but the term "expert" looks to me to be a bit of hyperbole.
How many Fleet Introduction Teams have you been on, JSF fan?
"
I have no problem with what you wrote, however the topic is training the 36 instructors and not just pilot conversion.
I have no issue with the article saying "
"paving the way for 36 expert pilots to be trained next year as instructors for the new stealth warplane"
Infact would be very surprised if the the 36 future f-35 instructors weren't already 'expert' qualified instructors or have reached an 'expert' standard deemed suitable to become instuctors. Average pilots don't become instructors as I see it.