Mr. Zimmerman, of Junction City, Ore., is the Air Force winner of the Yahoo! Fantasy Careers in Today's Military contest.

The contest, which ran May 20 - July 4, invited eligible U.S. candidates to register on Yahoo!, submit a resume, and write a short essay on one or all of the military fantasy careers through the Career Track web site. Overall, more than 3,300 essays were submitted.

"This contest is about the public meeting military service members, getting to know who they are, and experiencing firsthand their maturity, dedication and professionalism," said Navy Cmdr. Yvette Brown-Wahler, the Defense Department's assistant director for recruiting plans. "This is a way for ordinary people from Main Street USA to connect with extraordinary people doing exciting, thrilling and challenging jobs while serving their country."

The 22-year-old winner travels to Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla., Aug. 23 -25 for his flight. In addition, he will get a chance to meet with aircraft mechanics and watch a military work dog demonstration as part of an orientation on the Air Force. "I was about to pass out," Mr. Zimmerman said when he learned he had won the contest. "It is a dream come true." He said he'd almost forgotten entering his essay after spotting the contest on the Air Force recruiting web site.

Lieutenant Col. Jerry Kerby, 325th Operations Support Squadron weapons and training flight commander at Tyndall, will be Mr. Zimmerman's pilot during the orientation flight.

I'm excited about doing this because I get to show others what a great life we have in the Air Force," Colonel Kerby said. "It's not just flying jets; it's working side-by-side with men and women who have dedicated their lives to serving our great nation. You just don't get this working a nine-to-five job."

"I'm totally excited about the flight," Mr. Zimmerman said. "My face will be plastered up against the seat. Adrenaline will be pumping, and I just get more excited day by day."

Mr. Zimmerman, who works as a customer service representative for United Airlines, will receive a bachelor's degree from Embry-Riddle University early next year and hopes to go to Officer Training School. A private pilot for five years now, he said he hopes to someday become an Air Force pilot. He sees his time at Tyndall as a great first step.

"I'm going to learn more about a fighter pilot's life. This is going to show me what happens behind the scenes. It will keep inspiring me to pursue my dream of becoming an Air Force pilot," he said.

"I am living the dream," Colonel Kerby said, "and I want Dale to experience some of that dream. He is going to get the ride of his life. I have the best job in the world, and now I get to prove it."

"I'm speechless," said Mr. Zimmerman. "This doesn't come around often. I'm glad Colonel Kerby is as excited as I am. This is a chance of a lifetime."

The milestone, combined with extensive, high angle-of-attack maneuvering, completed the fourth of five flight-test criteria established by DOD and the Air Force for 1999. The flight-test criteria, along with other program requirements, must be completed successfully to demonstrate to defense department officials that the F-22 is ready for Low Rate Initial Production.

"We've met the requirement to demonstrate high angle of attack post-stall flight with thrust vectoring for the Defense Acquisition Board's program review later this year," said Brig. Gen. Michael Mushala, F-22 program director. "With only one more '99 flight-test requirement to meet, I'm confident that our team will rise to the challenge."

Mushala heads the F-22 System Program Office, which manages development of the Raptor here at Aeronautical Systems Center.

Flight-test criteria already met this year includes: flying at an altitude of 50,000 feet; opening side and main weapons bay doors in flight; and supercruise -- flying at 1.5 Mach or greater without afterburner. A fifth requirement, flight in specific, high-speed regions of the F-22's envelope, is expected to be completed before the Defense Acquisition Board convenes in December.

The DAB, chaired by Dr. Jaques Gansler, undersecretary of defense for acquisition and technology, will determine if the F-22 program is mature enough to move to the LRIP phase of building fighters that will be flown in the field by operational line pilots.

Meeting the five prescribed flight-test criteria is necessary for the board to grant full contract award for the program's first six production F-22s, or Lot 1, and advanced-buy contract award for Lot 2, which represents 10 production F-22s.

So far, the program's two flight-test aircraft, located at the F-22's Combined Test Force at Edwards have flown more than 150 sorties and 330 hours; collected more than 4,500 ground and flight-test data-points; and demonstrated flight at 7 G's. The F-22 also made its first supersonic run at 1.2 Mach with weapons bay doors open, and the engine has remained stall-free throughout the high-alpha flight envelope explored to date.

"We're delighted with the results of the high angle-of-attack testing," said Tom Farmer, director of Pratt &Whitney's F119/F-22 program. "This test demonstrates that attention to engine stability and operability in the design phase has paid off. "

A third flight-test F-22 is expected to fly early next year. The fourth flight-test F-22, the first Raptor with its advanced avionics installed, is scheduled to fly next summer. In all, there will be nine flight-test F-22s in the engineering and manufacturing development phase of the program.

The first six production F-22s will support operational test and evaluation at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev. The F-22, the Air Force's chosen replacement for the aging F-15 air superiority fighter, is being developed by ASC to counter lethal threats posed by advanced surface-to-air missile systems and next-generation fighters equipped with launch-and-leave missiles.

In the resolution, Congress delayed production of the F-22 from December 1999 to December 2000, and cut funding by $560 million to make the Air Force justify the F-22's cost and prove its technology.

Instead of getting six production aircraft to complete operational testing, the Air Force will now receive six test aircraft.

"These six airplanes will be operational test and evaluation airplanes, because they come from research and development funds, but they will be production airplanes," said Maj. Gen. Claude Bolton, executive officer for fighter and bomber programs.

"You won't be able to tell the difference between what that aircraft will look like in a year or two, vice what it was going to look like before we had to change the 'color' of money," he said.

With an aging fleet of F-15s, and the ability of adversaries and allies to match technology, the Air Force has embarked on a modernization program to maintain its edge on military strength and air dominance.

According to General Bolton, the F-15 is on par with four other aircraft, including the Russian MiG-29 and MiG-35, the French Mirage 2000 and the Euro-fighter.

"There's only so much you can do after 30 years with an air frame," the general said. "We've had a 100.5 to zero kill ratio with the [F-15]. We've not lost any F-15s to enemy fire. That's obviously something we want to continue into the next century."
The Air Force plans to buy 339 F-22 aircraft to replace the F-15 fleet. General Bolton said he expects the F-22 to give the United States the edge in air dominance for the next 30 years or more.

The F-22 is designed to face modern adversarial aircraft equipped with advanced air-to-air missile systems and against integrated air defense systems with improved surface-to-air missiles.

"That is a threat we have not faced yet with the F-15," General Bolton said.

"And we don't want to because the results would not be good.

"What will allow us to face that threat is the F-22. That's what it was designed to do. So we'll be able to continue what we've enjoyed, which is air dominance. That's not just going up and controlling part of the sky, but going up and totally dominating the air battle to the point where if someone does come up, they know we can take them down."

The six F-22s, slated for delivery in 2002, will cost the Air Force nearly $85 million per plane, and will be based at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev.