The Cougars of Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) 139 recently surpassed 25,000 class-A mishap-free flight hours, a milestone they credit to the professionalism and expertise of each member in the command.

The squadron’s last Class A mishap was March 1992. For the past 16 years, the Cougars have flown through the skies of Washington, as well as around the world, without major incident. Excellence in aircrew training and a superior maintenance program, coupled with outstanding personnel, made this milestone possible. 

The Cougars accomplished this feat onboard the USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) in the middle of their most recent workup cycle.  Flying a variety of different missions during this at sea period, the Cougars have maintained a high state of readiness and perfected their integration with Air Wing Operations. 

The Cougar maintainers’ hard work has permitted the jets to be consistently flown to meet the high-tempo demands of the air wing.  Some of the missions included long range strikes over California and others that were in the vicinity of the carrier.

Lt. Dan Oberlander was the pilot of the jet that passed the 25,000th hour. After his arrested landing on the ship, he was business as usual until hearing about the milestone. 

“I’m not superstitious, but I don’t want to jinx it by talking about it,” he said.

Looking towards the future, the Cougars crew say they are confident in their maintainers to keep providing aircrew with the safest jets in the Navy.