■刀客

原文：

 388th Fighter Wing pilot, Lt. Col. Jared ‵Vic′ Santos, became the first Air Force pilot to reach 1000 flying hours in the F-35A Lightning II.

 ‵This is an accomplishment for Vic, for us as a wing, and for the Air Force,′ said Col. Steven Behmer, 388th Fighter Wing commander. ‵A relatively short time ago, the Air Force was standing this program up. Now we've got our first 1000-hour-pilot. Pilots like Vic are able to pass that experience on to younger pilots in the F-35 community. They are really going to get the best out of this jet, which is already very capable, and continuing to improve.′

 But despite the accomplishment, Santos stayed humble. ‵Hitting 1,000 hours doesn't mean I'm special,′ he said in the release. ‵It just means I'm old.′

中譯：

 第388聯隊中校飛官桑托斯，成為首位駕駛F-35A「閃電II式」戰機飛行時數達1000小時的空軍飛行員。

 該聯隊長貝默上校表示：「這是屬於『維克』、我們整個聯隊及美國空軍的一項成就。不久之前，空軍才在捍衛F-35專案，如今，我們已有了首位達標1000小時的飛行員。飛官們都要像『維克』一樣，能將此一經驗傳承給F-35家族的年輕飛行員。他們將來真的要好好善用這種性能已相當出色、而且會持續精進的噴射戰機。」

 可是，桑托斯即便獲此成就，仍保持謙虛，他於新聞稿表示：「達標1000小時，並非表示我很特別，只能說明我老了。」

（第7篇／共16篇）

─關鍵軍語─

 ※flying hours:

 Flight hours, an aviation term referring to the total amount of time spent piloting aircraft.

例句：

 Flying hours serves as the primary measure of a pilot's experience.

 飛行時數主要用來評量飛行員的經驗值。