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Friday, March 29, 2024

Meet the country’s first female jet fighter pilot

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A Filipina has qualified to join the ranks of the country’s elite jet fighter pilots, the Philippine Air Force announced Thursday.

BREAKING THE GLASS CEILING. 1st Lt. Jul Laiza Mae Camposano-Beran, the country’s first female jet fighter pilot

PAF spokesperson Col. Maynard Mariano said 1st Lt. Jul Laiza Mae B. Camposano-Beran qualified to fly into combat using the SIAI-Marchetti AS-211 light jet combat aircraft, which the PAF also uses in attack and surveillance missions.

“The PAF made history (by) having its own, first-ever female fighter pilot on March 30, 2022 from the 5th Fighter Wing at Basa Air Base, Floridablanca, Pampanga. 1st Lt. Jul Laiza Mae B. Camposano-Beran was checked out as the first female AS-211 combat mission ready pilot and wingman,” he added.

Mariano said Camposano-Beran first flew alone or went “solo” in the AS-211 on December 5, 2020.

“She had 150 plus hours flying the AS-211,” he added.

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Mariano said Camposano-Berran underwent the “Jet Qualification Training” and the so-called “Intro To Fighter Fundamentals and Combat Crew Training” both in the AS-211, before flying “solo.”

These trainings, which take around two years, are done to ensure that fighter pilot trainees like Camposano-Beran will not only know how to fly the aircraft but will also allow them to learn about fighting air-to-air, air-to-ground, and air-to-surface in the AS-211, he added.

“And while doing this, she was also flying with the FA-50 as a backseat pilot and (gaining) combat experience having flown in the FA-50 on an actual strike mission,” he added.

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