Local Tucson boy becomes January pilot for a day

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Jamie L. Coggan
  • 355th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
DAVIS-MONTHAN AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. --  Kyle Chamberlain, a 13-year-old Tucsonan battling a rare lung disease, toured the base Jan. 23 as this month's participant in the Pilot for a Day Program.

The purpose of the program is to give local children with serious illnesses a day completely devoted them and their interest in aviation.

Kyle brought along his mother, Carolyn, father, George, and Vera "Ginny" Gann, one of his nurses. His day started off at the Visitors' Center, where he met his host pilot, Capt. Richard "Pyle" Wilson, the 354th Fighter Squadron's chief of training.

Captain Wilson took Kyle back to his squadron where Kyle put on his new flight suit, complete with a personalized name tag and squadron patches. There, Kyle and his family checked out life support gear and looked through night-vision goggles.

After finishing up at the 354th FS, Captain Wilson took Kyle and his family to the D-M Fire Protection Flight to meet the Airmen and see the fire trucks. Kyle enjoyed spraying water on the flight line. "That was awesome," he said, smiling, before being presented with a helmet signed by all of the firemen.

Kyle was clearly excited on the way to their next stop - a real A-10 aircraft on static display. Kyle sat in the cockpit as Captain Wilson explained to him what all the buttons did, then begged his mom to come up and see how cool it was.

"I don't think we're ever going to get him out of that seat," said Mr. Chamberlain. "He'd be content sitting up there all day. He'd fly it if they'd let him."

From there, the group visited the 79th Rescue Squadron's hangar, where Kyle and his family checked out an HC-130 aircraft. Kyle got to tour the inside of the plane before heading to the 55th RQS, where he toured an HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopter and pretended to fire from the gunner's seat.

The group ate lunch and headed to the 355th Operations Support Squadron. Kyle got to experience the A-10 flight simulator, a system that replicates flying an aircraft over a virtual map as realistically as possible. After his mock flight, their tour ended with a brief tour of the control tower. Then, a happy Kyle and family headed home.

"It was a humbling experience to be around Kyle and his family," said Captain Wilson. "It puts even the rough days in the Air Force into perspective. It goes beyond an honor to meet a kid who is and has been fighting for his life, for all of his life, and all he wants to do is to see and hear about the airplanes at Davis-Monthan."