Photo By Kimberly Brown | Lt. Jake Dang, right, receives his Test Pilot of the Year award from Cmdr. Jason...... read more read more
Lt. Jake Dang earned the Air Test and Evaluation Squadron (VX) 30 and Weapons and Warfare Systems Test Department’s 2021 Test Pilot of the Year Award, presented in a ceremony in Point Mugu, California.
Dang, VX-30’s NP-3C, P-3C, and C-130T project lead, earned the accolade by displaying “outstanding ability, aptitude, and motivation while providing significant and critical support for Naval Aviation projects” including leading the effort to integrate a new navigation and instrumentation suite in the NP-3C, according to his citation. The NP-3C is a one-of-a-kind telemetry aircraft operated by VX-30.
Cmdr. Andrew Chauvin, the Range Support Aircraft Department head for VX-30, nominated Dang, lauding the lieutenant’s “complete and unrelenting attention to every project.”
“I wish we had 10 more project officers just like him,” Chauvin wrote.
Dang, whose family immigrated to the United States from Vietnam when he was a child, was inspired to join the military by his grandfather’s service.
“My grandfather was South Vietnamese intelligence and worked with the U.S.,” he said. “He had to leave in the 1970s, and the family followed little by little. He had a military background, and I’d see pictures of him on the wall, and that kind of started it for me.”
Dang graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 2015 with a Bachelor of Science in Systems Engineering; he was the first member of his family to attend college.
His technical background made him interested in the test side of naval aviation. When he heard about VX-30, Dang knew he wanted to come and experience more technical challenges beyond just flying.
“I love it here. Solving test problems is like solving a puzzle. You have an end goal – an objective, and you’re given guidelines, but how you get from here to there is a puzzle you have to solve. That’s the whole reason for testing – figure out the puzzle.”
Dang was surprised to be nominated, let alone be selected. As a pilot who leads testing, rather than a graduate of test pilot school, he wasn’t even sure he qualified, initially.
“It’s shocking to have won,” he said. “Having done the work was rewarding enough. To see things you work on be successful.”
For any other technically inclined Navy lieutenants looking at their next career steps, Dang said he highly recommends looking into test, particularly at VX-30.
“This is such a good place to find your footing, and it’s so accommodating to your interests. No matter what you want to do, there’s an opportunity here, and it’s a great place to be.”
| Date Taken: | 03.04.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 03.22.2022 17:33 |
| Story ID: | 416959 |
| Location: | POINT MUGU NAWC, CA, US |
| Hometown: | ANNANDALE, VA, US |
| Web Views: | 229 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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