Story By: By Ensign Dave Hanselman
VF-154 PAO
email: pamoor52@cv62.navy.mil
Date: February 16, 1998
Cmdr. Thomas Lang, Air Operations Officer for Independence, recently reached a milestone in his naval career by making his 1,000th arrested landing while flying with Fighter Squadron 154 during a mission in support of Operation Southern Watch.
"This is terrific," Lang said after landing on Freedom’s Flagship. "It means a great deal to me to have reached this milestone while flying with the Black Knights since I have flown with VF-154 more then any other squadron in the Air Wing."
Lang said because of the close working relationship between squadrons in Carrier Air Wing FIVE he’s had the good fortune to fly more then Air Operations Officers on other carriers.
The Air Operations Officer controls the air space up to fifty miles around the carrier and determines the order in which aircraft launch and recover.
Very few people reach 1000 landings on carriers. In the year and a half that Lang has been on the USS Independence he knows of only two other people in the air wing to experienced such an event.
A native of Royal Oak, Mich., Lang received his commission in 1981. After completion of flight training as a Naval Flight Officer, he was assigned to fly the F-14 Tomcat.
Logging over 3,600 hours in the Tomcat, he is no stranger to the Persian Gulf. Lang flew 39 combat missions during Operation Desert Storm and earned the designation as an air wing strike leader.
Lang is a distinguished graduate of the Naval War College where he earned a Master of Arts Degree in national Security and Strategic Studies and won the Red River Valley Fighter Pilot’s Association award for excellence in writing.
Caption 1: Cmdr. Thomas Lang, Indy’s Air Operations Officer makes his 1,000th trap. PHOTO BY: PHAN Brian Hoosack