Afghan flies cargo mission, adds milestone - Air Force News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Air Force Times

Afghan flies cargo mission, adds milestone

KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan — First Lt. Fariz Mohammad Ramaki of the Afghan National Air Corps can add another first to his name.

The 28-year-old junior officer is the first Afghan to fly a combat mission in a cargo fixed-wing aircraft as well as the first Afghan pilot in 50 years to complete U.S. pilot training.

Ramaki earned his latest distinction March 24, when he helped pilot a C-27 Spartan with Lt. Col. James Piel, commander of the 538th Air Expeditionary Advisory Squadron. Ramaki received his pilot wings in June at Columbus Air Force Base, Miss.

The co-pilots completed the flight from Kabul in 90 minutes, delivering 300 pounds of cargo and 23 passengers. Waiting to congratulate them on the joint flight was a crowd of Afghan and American airmen that included Brig. Gen. Michael Boera, commander of the 438th Air Expeditionary Wing and Combined Air Power Transition Force.

For Ramaki, the flight meant more for his country than for himself.

“I am very proud,” he said. “It is good for Afghanistan and I make my country my priority.”

Ramaki started working with the U.S. military in 2002 as an interpreter for the U.S. Special Forces training team embedded with the Afghan National Army’s 1st Battalion.

His work as an interpreter eventually connected Ramaki to an Air Force unit, whose commander recommended he take a test to qualify for undergraduate pilot training in the U.S.

Ramaki had the highest score on the test, Piel said. Ramaki found himself headed first to Texas for nine months of English classes, then to Mississippi for a year of pilot training.

Ramaki started C-27 training in December and qualified two months later.

“He’s a quick study,” Piel said. “You do it once and he could repeat it immediately.”

Most Afghan pilots are in their 40s, products of Soviet flight training, and don’t hide their jealousy of their younger, American-educated counterpart.

“They don’t like me because they are Russian-trained and I am U.S.-trained and I do things differently,” Ramaki said.

Right now, two Afghans are in U.S. pilot training. When they return to Afghanistan, they will join Ramaki’s unit in Kabul to train with the 538th. The Afghan unit flies three C-27s and five slightly smaller An-32s, twin-engine turboprop transport.

Piel’s squadron expects the Afghan fleet to eventually grow to 20 C-27s; two more aircraft will be delivered this month.

“These young pilots won’t accept the status quo. They are determined to change history,” Piel said.