F-35 test pilot completes 1,000th vertical landing

NAVAL AIR STATION PATUXENT RIVER, Md., May 13 (UPI) -- British test pilot Peter "Wizzer" Wilson recently completed his 1,000th vertical landing in an F-35 Lightning II aircraft, BAE Systems announced Friday.

It happened at Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland, about six years after a test pilot conducted the jet's first vertical landing, the company said.

Wizzer is the lead test pilot for the Short Take Off and Vertical Landing (STOVL) F-35B variant, which will operate from Royal Navy Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers.

Flight trials on the British carrier are less than three years away.

"Every day, the test team carries out numerous take-offs, landings and sorties with the aim of ensuring the aircraft is performing in accordance with our expectations," Wilson said. "To be the pilot who conducted the 1,000th vertical landing is a bit special."

Wilson became the first pilot to launch the F-35B from a ski jump last June.