Dover special-ops pilot makes history, receives award
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DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. (USTCNS) --- Capt. Jodi Neff, a C-5 pilot and flight instructor assigned to the 3rd Airlift Squadron, was presented the National Aviation Club Katherine and Marjorie Stinson Award for Achievement in Arlington, Va., Nov. 24.
Neff was chosen to receive the award this year for being the first woman to command a C-5 Galaxy aircraft during Special Operations Low Level missions.
The award recognizes women in the aviation community and aerospace industry for an outstanding and enduring contribution, a meritorious flight, or a singular technical development in the field of aviation, aeronautics, space or related sciences, and was presented by the National Aeronautical Association.
"It's really an honor to be selected," said Neff. "I'm doing the same job as other people in the squadron. It's almost overwhelming, judging by past recipients."
Previous recipients of the Stinson award have included Dr. Shannon Lucid, a female astronaut with the most hours in space (838 hours and 54 minutes), and Jeana Yeager, who co-piloted the Voyager, the first aircraft to circumnavigate the globe non-stop, without refueling.
Neff has risen quickly through the ranks since beginning her career as a military aviator in 1994. She first distinguished herself as a C-21 pilot in the Middle East, where she flew more than 50 missions in support of Operation Southern Watch, the defense of the southern no-fly zone over Iraq.
"As well as being a distinguished graduate of aircraft commander initial qualification, she was certified as an Aircraft Commander within one year of her arrival at Dover," said Lt. Col. Andrew Redmond, 3rd AS commander. "Within the next year-and-a-half, Captain Neff flawlessly upgraded to C-5 instructor and aerial refueling instructor."
According to Redmond, Neff's intelligent and articulate approach to solving problems makes her a highly effective and competent leader.
After qualifying on the C-5, she was handpicked for special operations duty, a position in which she has served as a SOLL II aircraft commander, and chief of both the Special Operations Tactics and Special Operations Training offices.
"She single-handedly re-organized the SOLL II training program by painstakingly reforming the training requirements to correspond more directly to the training regulations," said Redmond. "She also played a significant role in developing and obtaining approval for more user-friendly, comprehensive, and structured courseware for SOLL II upgrade programs."
The immediate past, commander of Air Mobility Command and commander in chief of U.S. Transportation Command, Air Force Gen. Charles T. "Tony" Robertson, Jr., described why SOLL II missions require the highest level of skill and congratulated Neff on a job well done.
"The elite SOLL II mission requires carefully selected operators to fly the C-5 at night, in marginal weather, at low level and with night-vision goggles, into unlit, hostile, and austere locations. Employing the C-5 in this flight regime requires superb flying skills and leadership abilities of the very highest order," said Robertson.
Among her various tours in the field, Neff is credited with airlifting equipment to U.S. and allied forces in Kuwait during Operation Desert Storm, with transporting munitions to NATO forces in the Kosovo theater, and with flying humanitarian missions in East Timor and Korea.
(FROM AIR MOBILITY COMMAND PUBLIC AFFAIRS)
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